Berlin -- A divorced woman once described as "a cross between Mother Teresa and Demi Moore" was Wednesday elected head of Germany's Protestant church, the first woman to hold the post.

Margot Kaessmann, 51, received 132 of the 142 votes cast at the church's general assembly in Ulm, southern Germany. She now leads 25 million faithful across the country.

"Trusting in God's help, I accept the vote," she said.

Kaessmann, who was elected for a six-year term, was the only candidate for the post.

The charismatic Kaessmann hit the headlines around the world in 2007 when she became the first bishop in Germany to file for divorce from her husband, also a leading member of the Lutheran church.

She was Germany's youngest bishop when she was consecrated in 1999 and has since survived an operation to remove breast cancer.

In 2003, the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily reported that she was known within the organisation as a "mixture of Mother Teresa and Demi Moore."

AFP/Expatica