Serbia's Orthodox Church to elect new patriarch

Pavle died on November 15 after an illness lasting more than two years. His funeral was witnessed by tens of thousands of people.

BELGRADE, January 22, 2010 (AFP) - The Serbian Orthodox Church's top body, the Holy Synod, began a session on Friday to elect a new leader following the death of the patriarch Pavle last November.

The synod, which groups 45 bishops, met after a liturgy held in the patriarchy's Saborna church in central Belgrade.

The church elders will elect the new spiritual leader in what is likely to be many rounds of voting from an eventual short list of three bishops.

The new patriarch is scheduled to be enthroned on Sunday.

Pavle died on November 15 after an illness lasting more than two years. His funeral was witnessed by tens of thousands of people.

Under Pavle's rule the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on society steadily grew after the fall of communism in the 1990s. In 2001 religion was reinstated on the curriculum of schools after more than 60 years of state enforced atheism.

The great majority of Serbia's population of seven million people identify themselves as Orthodox Christians, with only some four percent Roman Catholics.

Relations between Belgrade and the Vatican have improved since Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic's ouster in 2000, and senior Orthodox Church officials have even raised the possibility of a papal visit in 2013.