The World Council of Churches (WCC) elected the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit as its new general secretary on the second day of its Central Committee meeting in Geneva.

Tveit, a 48-year-old Norwegian theologian and pastor, is the youngest general secretary since Willem A. Visser't Hooft, who was 38 when he was elected in 1938. He succeeds Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, the WCC's head of six years, who will be celebrated in a farewell ceremony later in the week.

"This task I really feel is the call of God, I feel that we have a lot to do together," said Tveit in his acceptance speech before the Central Committee.

Tveit was one of two candidates selected by the Central Committee for WCC's highest administrative post. The other candidate was the Rev. Dr. Park Seong-won, a Presbyterian theologian from South Korea.