Succeeding Geza Erniša, who was at the helm of the church for almost two decades, Filo explained that this also meant setting up a Protestant centre on the coast so that the Evangelical Lutheran Church, all of whose bodies have been located in Prekmurje (NE) so far, can symbolically become all-Slovenian.

Erniša also addressed the event, expressing his belief that many more good things will be done for the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Slovenian nation and that the path of Slovenian evangelicalism will continue with the new bishop, who is only the first among equals.

Erniša took the opportunity to quote from the Divine Comedy and note that the darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.

"When decisive issues are at stake, especially moral ones, nobody, particularly not Church representatives and politicians, as well as intellectuals or ordinary people, should keep silent. Keeping silent and tolerating negative things never leads to anything good," he said.

A number of Church representatives from Slovenia and abroad as well as state officials, including President Borut Pahor and National Council president Mitja Bervar, attended today's inauguration.

Filo, a 53-year-old priest of the Evangelical Municipality in Ljubljana, is taking over for a period of six years. He has announced that the young will be a key priority, that he is remaining in Ljubljana and will move the bishop's headquarters from Moravske toplice to the capital.

Consisting of 13 religious municipalities, Slovenia's Lutheran and Evangelical Church is represented by a bishop who is elected by a college of electors consisting of all church dignitaries of the group's religious municipalities as well as one to six delegates form each municipality.

According to a 2007 survey carried out by the Faculty of Social Sciences, 1.8% of Slovenians declared themselves Evangelical Lutherans in the predominantly Catholic Slovenia. The Slovenian Evangelical Lutheran community numbers some 18,000 believers mostly living in the north-east of the country.