The long-awaited document, published after six years of discussion, effectively seeks to backtrack on centuries of Anglican dissent over the place of Mary in the Catholic Church by giving new credence to dogmas that helped inspire the Reformation.

It states that there is "no continuing theological reason for ecclesial division" over the role of the Virgin Mary. "We do not consider the practice of asking Mary and the saints to pray for us as communion dividing," it says. The document also describes private devotions inspired by apparitions of Mary as "acceptable".

In the passage likely to cause most dissent, the document says the infallible dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption - the teachings that Mary was herself conceived "without sin" and that on death she was "assumed" body and soul into Heaven - are "consonant with the teaching of the Scriptures".

The document is not intended itself to be authoritative but to be a basis for discussion, yet its authors admit openly to the hope that the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion will recognise a "common faith" concerning Mary as outlined in the paper.

The Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, Malcolm McMahon OP, one of 18 delegates from ten countries who served on Arcic, said the document showed that Mary need no longer be considered an obstacle to unity between Anglicans and Catholics. He said: "What we have done is put down a paving stone on the road to Christian unity."

The document is published at a sensitive time in Anglican-Catholic relations. The last Pope, John Paul II, was noted for his devotion to Mary. He also made clear his dismay over the direction the Anglican Communion was taking over the ordination of women and more recently of homosexuals.

Unity talks between the two churches foundered and the publication of the Mary document was delayed after the American Anglican church consecrated the openly homosexual Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. Bishop Frank Griswold, the Unites States Anglican primate, was forced to resign as co-chairman of Arcic. The Australian primate, Archbishop Peter Carnley, was appointed in his stead. Bishop Griswold was present at the launch of the document last night at St James' Catholic cathedral in Seattle, seat of the group's Catholic co-chair, Archbishop Alexander Brunett.

The appointment of Pope Benedict XVI, who in his previous incarnation as the Vatican's doctrinal enforcer dismissed Protestant communities as not "proper" churches, has nevertheless put unity back on the agenda.

Last week the Vatican praised the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for adopting a hard-line orthodox stance against the liberal pro-homosexual agenda in his church.

The Mary document will reinforce growing fears among evangelicals that the Catholic church is prepared to consider unity with the Anglicans once more, but strictly on its own terms.

The Reverend Rod Thomas, a leading evangelical cleric who acts as spokesman for the Reform conservative grouping, said the document represented an attempt to "shoehorn into Scripture" the Marian dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption.

He said: "If Mary has been wholly and completely assumed into Heaven and we are able to pray to her, it goes completely against the grain of Jesus Christ being our great high priest who intercedes on our behalf with the Father."

He said he had a lot of sympathy for the members of the commission as they struggled to find common theological ground. "But it has become clear that we can only find common ground through theological fudge. That can never be a basis for moving forward in unity.

"The document goes nowhere near addressing the understandings of revelation, of scriptural authority and the uniqueness of Christ that were the cornerstones of the Reformation and are the cornerstones of evangelical faith today.

"It is not so much an attempt to turn the clock back as a demonstration that to move forward would require compromises on our understanding of the Bible's teaching that, however courteously expressed, are still issues that divide us."

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