The Most Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church, consecrated Robinson amid cheers and applause from the estimated 3,000 people who gathered under tight security for the ceremony in a college sports arena.

Robinson, his voice trembling, told the congregation he felt deeply honored but also urged compassion toward church members angered and upset by his consecration.

"Our God will be served if we are hospitable and loving and caring toward them," said the new bishop, wearing a robe of gold, red and green. "If they must leave, they will always be welcomed back into our fellowship."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican faith, said divisions arising from the appointment were "a matter of deep regret."

The conservative American Anglican Council condemned the consecration of an openly homosexual bishop as "heresy, blasphemy and sin," and vowed to create a new "mainstream" Anglican church in the United States.

"Today is a grievous day in the history of our Church. Heresy has been held up as holy. Blasphemy has been redefined as blessing," the American Anglican Council said in a statement. "Holy scripture has been abandoned and sin celebrated over sanctification."

"Our family is now split and the whole cloth of the Anglican Communion is torn. Realignment has begun," added the council, an alliance of bishops, clergy, and 600 Episcopal churches committed to "preserving Biblical orthodoxy."

Robinson, who has lived with his male partner for 13 years, has pleaded for unity. But his installation may split the 70-million-member Anglican Communion.

The church's Lambeth Conference of 1998 held that the Anglican communion regards homosexual practice as "incompatible with scripture" and condemned the blessing of same-sex unions.