A vicar described as a "rising star" in the Church of England is to become the first clergyman married to a divorcee to be made a bishop, it was announced today.

The Rev Nicholas Holtam, vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, central London, has been approved by the Queen to take up the post of Bishop of Salisbury.

The clergyman was strongly tipped for promotion after the General Synod of the Church of England paved the way earlier this year for the first divorced and remarried clergy to be consecrated as bishops.

The move also allowed clergy to be made bishops who are married to divorcees with a partner still alive.

The Rev Holtam, 56, has been married for more than 30 years to his Quaker wife Helen, who had a brief first marriage as a teenager. Her former spouse is still alive.

The father-of-four has been described as an "inspirational" preacher, who runs the St Martin-in-the-Fields shelter for the homeless and has successfully masterminded the church's £36 million renovation appeal.

"I am honoured and delighted to be asked to become Bishop of Salisbury," the Rev Holtam said in a statement.

"I look forward enormously to becoming part of a great diocese with all the opportunities and challenges ahead, trying to draw people towards God and recognising Him at work in the lives of people in Wiltshire and Dorset."

The Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev June Osborne, said: "This is a truly wonderful appointment.

"The Diocese of Salisbury is immensely fortunate to have as its new bishop someone of such breadth and depth in his priestly ministry, and the Church of England will be better for having Nick Holtam in the House of Bishops.

"We are very much looking forward to welcoming Nick and Helen and their family to share with us the life of Wiltshire and Dorset."

The Bishop of Sherborne, Dr Graham Kings, added: "Nick's ministry is deeply rooted in prayer. Out of this flow concern for the poor, desire for Church growth, perceptive writing, visionary leadership and long-term friendships, so he will be an excellent colleague to work with."

Existing bishops within the Church of England have been divorced or have married divorcees.

The former Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt Rev Mark Santer, married a divorcee in 1997 three years after his first wife died.

The Bishop of Hull, the Rt Rev Richard Frith, was divorced and remarried after his first wife left him.

The General Synod was told in February that there was no legal bar under Church law to consecrating clergy as bishops who are in "further" marriages or married to divorcees with a partner still alive.

The Church of England ordains a "considerable" number of men and women as clergy in such categories after a change in the law in 1990, the Church's national assembly heard.

The Rt Rev Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, said: "Ours is also a church which conducts the further marriage of the divorced in church with increasing regularity following the decisions of this Synod eight years ago and the subsequent publication of the guidelines of the House of Bishops.

"Our church has done this mindful of scripture, tradition and reason."