"I am pretty close to the edge. I know about the black dog. I also know that you can't let it get on your back because it will bring you down," he revealed in a remarkably candid interview.

Although Dr Hollingworth resigned, he has denied being involved in the cover-up in Brisbane. In fact, he now believes that his downfall was due to a 'powerful secular culture', which could not tolerate the religious in the public square.

In contrast to the rigid hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, the world's 77 million Anglicans form a much looser communion, with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as their spiritual head. Unlike the Pope, he has no powers of excommunication. Eames, who once played a pivotal role in getting Anglicans to agree to the ordination of women priests, regards the issue of gay bishops as the toughest he has ever had to tackle.

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.

Historically, the Anglican Communion has opposed the papal teachings because there is no direct account of them in the Bible.

Immaculate Conception refers to the mandatory Catholic dogma, pronounced in 1854, that Mary was born free of "original sin." The Assumption refers to the belief required since 1950 that Mary was directly received, body and soul, into heaven at the end of her life. Anglicans have neither teaching.