"Contrary to claims that the programme’s producers wanted the cross moving as they were worried its inclusion would offend people, what actually happened was that they wanted to move the cross so that it was not hidden.
"A member of crew knew that they were dressing the set with candles and flowers and knew this would obstruct the view of the cross. A member of church staff was asked if the cross could be moved.
"When she asked why they wanted it moving, she was told that Coronation Street didn’t want to cause offence to anyone when the scenes were shown," they continued.
"It now transpires that she took this to mean that production felt people would be offended by seeing the cross, when in fact they were concerned that the props were blocking the view of the cross. In fact during the Wednesday episode of Coronation Street a shot of the cross was seen."
They added: "We have now made this clear to the Reverend Milnes, who is going to explain this to his parishioners, and we apologise for this misunderstanding."
