He had had only a few days' notice, and made a late-night telephone call to the cardinal who heads the Council for Christian Unity, to find out what was going on.

Speaking to Vatican Radio yesterday, Dr Williams said: "Clearly many Anglicans, myself included, felt that it put us in an awkward position for a time - not the content [of the constitution] so much as some of the messages that were given out. I needed to share with the Pope some of those concerns. I think those were expressed and heard in a very friendly spirit."

Dr Williams told the BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme, that the meeting with the Pope "went as well as I could have hoped", and that dialogue under the Council for Christian Unity would continue as usual. This week, leaders of the Churches will discuss the third phase of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. Dr Williams said that the Pope "was extremely enthusiastic about the next stage in ecumenical dialogue".

Dr Williams denied that the Anglican Ordinariates were a departure from ecumenism. "It's a pastoral measure for certain people, certain groups; it is not a new ecumenism."

The Holy See described the meeting as cordial. The Pope gave the Archbishop a pectoral Cross, an indication that he recognises his episcopacy - in spite of a 19th-century papal bull under which Anglican orders are deemed "absolutely null and utterly void".

Before the meeting, Dr Williams told the Financial Times that he had been left with a sore ego by the manner of the announcement.

"I did have very short notice. I think that was a pity. It would have been good to discuss it a bit more. But I don't think it's a deadly blow, by any means. There are people who we knew were very likely to become Roman Catholics if the Church moved ahead with ordaining women as bishops here."

END