And even if they are, clergy may decline to conduct a same-sex ceremony.

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Then he heard Paralympic organisers were searching for a disabled pilot to conduct the flypast at the Paralympic Games opening ceremony for London 2012.

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He later backtracked, but his tactless remarks - and his even more tactless conduct in dozing off during part of the ceremony - recalled another occasion a decade ago when he appeared to praise Mussolini by claiming that the Fascist dictator had "never killed anybody".

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