UK bishop orders probe of "marriage" by gay clerics

LONDON (Reuters) - A leading Church of England bishop has ordered an investigation into the blessing of two gay clergymen held in a London church in May, the Bishop of London said on Sunday.

Already civil partners, the Reverend Peter Cowell and the Reverend David Lord, who was ordained in New Zealand, exchanged vows in a service at St Bartholomew the Great, one of London's oldest churches, on May 31.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the priests had exchanged rings and vows.

"Services of public blessings for civil partnerships are not authorized in the Church of England or the Diocese of London," the bishop of London, Richard Chartres, said in a statement.

"I will be asking the Archdeacon of London to investigate what took place at the church of St Bartholomew the Great."

The 77-million-member Anglican Communion, a global federation of national churches, has been in upheaval over the issue over homosexuality and the blessing of gay unions in recent years.

Church of England guidelines require clergy not to bless such partnerships, but the Reverend Martin Dudley, who carried out the service at St Bartholomew the Great, maintains he did not break any rules.

"It wasn't a marriage as you can't marry two men -- it was a celebration of the civil partnership of the two people that were involved," Dudley told Reuters.

"It wasn't intended to be provocative. When two men who have committed themselves to the church ask for a blessing why should we should we turn them away?"