It will now be easier for Anglicans to enter the Catholic church, after the Pope decreed that converts can preserve a number of religious traditions and practices.

Cardinal William Levada announced the changes at a press conference in Vatican City, which include allowing married Anglican priests and seminarians to become ordained Catholic priests.

The changes are expected to appeal to Anglicans who wish to return to the Catholic Church and who are unhappy with the direction of the Anglican Communion.

"Those Anglicans who have approached the Holy See have made clear their desire for full, visible unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church," Levada said. "At the same time, they have told us of the importance of their Anglican traditions of spirituality and worship for their faith journey."

The new provision, he said, will "facilitate a kind of corporate reunion of Anglican groups" into the Catholic Church.

A release from the Holy See Press Office indicated that the changes provide "a single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application."

Anglicans split from the Catholic Church in 1534, after English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment.

Today, the Catholic Church has 1.1 billion members worldwide, while the global Anglican Church has some 77 million members.

The Anglican community has seen defections over the years as its more conservative members have objected to the election of women and gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions.

The ease of conversion for Anglicans into the Catholic Church was made possible by Pope Benedict XVI approving a new church provision that will allow Anglicans to worship in a series of new Catholic entities called personal ordinariates.

Established in existing Catholic churches, the personal ordinariates will be headed by former Anglican prelates who will provide spiritual care for Anglicans who wish to be Catholic.

In London, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, said the changes announced by the Vatican were not a commentary on problems within the Anglican Communion.

"It has no negative impact on the relations of the communion as a whole to the Roman Catholic church as a whole," Williams said at a news conference.

In a separate joint statement issued by Williams and Vincent Gerard Nichols, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, said Pope Benedict's decision ends "a period of uncertainty" for Anglicans wishing to convert to Catholicism.

With files from The Associated Press