The church of England voted overwhelmingly yesterday in favour of a clear statement supporting the right of divorcees to marry in church in what was seen as a move designed to pave the way for the divorced Prince of Wales to remarry.

Members of the General Synod, the governing body, voted by 269 to 83 in support of a motion stating divorcees could be married in church while former spouses were still alive. Although divorcees could already remarry in church at the discretion of their Anglican priest, the statement was seen as a powerful way of muting opposition to the practice among clergy.

It also sent a clear signal from the Church hierarchy that there were no symbolic obstacles to the Prince of Wales marrying Camilla Parker Bowles, also a divorcee, in a church wedding. The synod was debating a House of Bishops report on "marriage in church after divorce" on the final day of the five-day meeting at York University.

After members voted in favour, the House of Bishops will be asked to issue national advice to clergy on the issue. But the final decision on whether a divorced person can remarry in church rests with the minister.

Presenting the report, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, said the proposals would not "dilute the Church's commitment to lifelong marriage".

The synod was told that in more than 11 per cent of weddings in the Church of England and Church in Wales one or both parties were divorced and the breakdown of a marriage was a "wretched reality" for many people.

The bishop said the Church was not diluting its commitment to marriage, and added: "The House is firmly convinced that marriage should only be entered into as a lifelong vocation, and it would not have supported these proposals if it had thought otherwise."

But he added: "We have to [represent] the compassion and the rebuilding love of God to as many as possible of those who are serious and hopeful about embarking freshly on marriage after a divorce.

"As things are, we present an uncertain, incoherent picture to those who want to know where the Church of England stands on an issue which sadly touches the lives of many thousands of people."

Later the synod paid an emotional farewell to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, who was attending his last session of the synod before he retires in October. The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, who led the tributes, praised his colleague's "integrity and passion" during the 11 years of his primacy.

He said Dr Carey had taken over when the Church faced some of the most "challenging and difficult years in the late 20th and early 21st century".

He added: "A cursory glance at the agendas of this synod over the years of your primacy serve to demonstrate the enormous changes which have taken place in our Church, and some of the demanding and complex issues and opportunities which have come before us and on which the synod has always been grateful for your wise and helpful interventions".

Dr Hope said there had been times when Dr Carey had "been deeply troubled, pained and anxious; very conscious of bearing the burdens of the Church of England.

"Yet at the same time always with that quiet and unselfconscious godliness which has always been so characteristic of your life and work."