In Belgrade a new patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church has been ordained.

On Friday, 80-year-old Bishop Irinej Gavrilovic was elected successor to Patriarch Pavle, who died at the age of 95 in November.

Patriarch Gavrilovic is seen as a reformer of the church, which has around 11 million followers inside and outside Serbia.

He is believed to want closer ties with the Roman Catholic Church and to want to scrap the Julian calendar according to which Orthodox holy days are celebrated.

During the ordination he called for obedience to the Serbian state to win back the province of Kosovo.

The Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian state are said to originate from the region of Kosovo.