LONDON (AP) - How will Justin Welby lead the world's Anglicans and heal their deep divisions? Even he is not sure yet.
Welby generated high hopes but few clear expectations Friday as British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the 56-year-old former oil executive was being promoted to archbishop of Canterbury after only a year's experience as a bishop.
"We don't know much about him and there are very few expectations because he has been a bishop for such a short time," said Paul Handley, managing editor of the Church Times newspaper.
But, he said, initial signs were "very encouraging and impressive."
Welby, appointed last year as bishop of Durham in northeastern England, worked for 11 years in the oil industry, rising to treasurer of Enterprise Oil before deciding he was called to the priesthood.
A skilled mediator who has worked to resolve conflicts in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, he will lead a global Anglican Communion riven by sharply divided views on gay people and the place of women in the church.
As the 105th holder of a post that stretches back to the 6th century, Welby takes over after Rowan Williams retires in December.
Welby said he felt privileged and astonished to be chosen to lead the church at "a time of spiritual hunger."
He declined to take questions about the contentious issues of female bishops and the church's attitude toward homosexuals and said "I don't have a detailed plan" for promoting growth in the church.
Reaction to his appointment was positive.
Jonathan Gledhill, bishop of Lichfield, called the appointment "daring and imaginative."
"Everybody seems to like him, those who know him," said Stephen Parkinson, U.K. director of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith.
Rod Thomas, chairman of the conservative evangelical group Reform, said Welby "has great credibility as a mediator and a friend of Africa, so we will be praying" that he can heal some of the splits in the Anglican Communion.
Women and the Church, which has campaigned for female bishops, said it was encouraged that Welby had worked with women as equals in the business world.
Welby supports the ordination of women as bishops, and indicated that his thinking on legally defining same-sex unions as "marriage" - which he and other bishops have opposed - was evolving.