New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson spoke out in response to a report on reconciliation issued Monday by an international commission of church leaders.

The report criticized the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada, where a diocese had begun blessing same-sex marriages, for failing to consult with their international brethren. It also rapped international bishops who branded the American actions as a "satanic attack" on the faith.

The commission that authored the report was made up of 17 leaders of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion. It told the U.S. and Canadian churches to hold off electing or ordaining any more openly gay bishops. They said the action had wounded the communion by failing "to offer an explanation to, or consult meaningfully with, the communion as a whole about the significant development of theology."

Robinson also said Wednesday that the "big news" in the report is that it "opens the door to worldwide discussion" about the roles of gays and lesbians in the church.

Robinson, 57, a divorced father who lives with his male partner, pointed out that the moratorium on ordaining gays is not a permanent ban. "Moratoria get lifted," he said.

He said he finds it "astoundingly important" that there was no call to repentance and that the report stresses the great value of remaining in communion — willing to meet and pray together."

"Unity is not in unanimity over a particular issue, but in Jesus Christ," he said. "The communion is about relationships, not about laws. The report is very Gospel-like in this way. Jesus was always breaking laws and finding ways to love someone and to do the right thing."

Conservative bishops are outraged. The leader of 800 dissenting U.S. parishes, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, said the Bible condemns homosexual behavior and has said there cannot be "unity in falsehood."

The report reflects "patronizing" efforts by North American churches to "subvert the Christian faith," said Bishop Peter Akinola, head of the 17 million-member Anglican Church in Nigeria and an outspoken critic of gay participation in church leadership. Liberals, he told Reuters news service, are "hell-bent on destroying the fabric of our common life."

The debate will be the burning topic next week at the first-ever continent-wide gathering in Nigeria of about 300 African Anglican bishops, virtually all vehemently opposed to ordaining gay clergy.

It's just the first in a series of potential showdowns ahead. Bishops from the U.S. church will meet in January. At their last meeting, dissenting conservative bishops refused even to stay at the same conference hotel as bishops who gave Robinson their blessing.

The leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, 38 primates of national and regional churches, will meet in February. The next global gathering of all bishops is in 2008.