Chilean chosen to head world Lutheran body

GENEVA (Reuters) - The Lutheran World Federation, which groups some 68 million mainstream Protestant Christians around the globe, on Monday chose a theologian from Chile to become its next secretary-general.

The new official, 48-year-old Rev. Martin Junge, was elected at a closed-door session of the Geneva-based Federation's governing council as the first representative from Latin America to hold the post and will take over in July next year.

As secretary-general, he will be in overall charge of steering the work of the 62-year-old federation's wide network of humanitarian and educational services, especially in developing countries. His term will last for seven years.

Junge, a former pastor in the Chilean capital Santiago and president of the country's Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1996 to 2000, will replace Zimbabwean pastor Ishmael Noko who will have served two terms when he steps down next summer.

An announcement on the federation's website (www.lutheranworld.org) said Junge, in Geneva as area secretary for Latin American and the Caribbean since 2000, had been active in campaigning on the issue of foreign debt in the region.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)