Roman Catholicism in Finland

The Roman Catholic Church in Finland is a small diaspora community today.

The first bishop in Finland was Henry of Uppsala in the 12th century. With him the Christianization took place in the territory of Finland, as the start date of the traditionally scheduled on the 1155 crusade of the Swedish king Eric the Holy apply. Then was founded 1258/59 with the Diocese of Turku, the first bishopric in Finland.

After the life of the Catholic Church had been wiped out in Finland with the Reformation, there were at the beginning of the 20th century, the first beginnings. On June 8, 1920, apostolic vicariate was erected, which was entrusted to the Sacred Heart priests from Germany and 1950 is already counted 1,789 believers and four local diocesan priests.

On February 25, 1955, the Vicariate Apostolic was raised to the bishopric of Helsinki, which covers the whole country with 338,145 km ². By 2008, the number of Catholics increased steadily to around 10,350, but this is not more than 0.2 % of the population. It is roughly equal to Catholic immigrants and converted to Catholicism Finns. Also in the priesthood, many foreigners are represented. So were at the head of the Diocese of Helsinki two Dutch and a Pole before 2009 Teemu Sippo a native Finn Bishop of Helsinki was first.

In recent years, the number of Catholics rose in Finland about 12 000 This also increased the need for church buildings. 2013, a church building in Vaasa was purchased for the local community. In January 2014, for example, was known to be a church community and the eighth parish to be established in Kuopio Finland. The church building had been offered by the Evangelical Lutheran Church for purchase and to be consecrated in May 2014. The new church will get the name of St. Joseph's Church.

Nuncios in Finland

  • Bruno Bernhard Home (1966-1969)
  • Josip Zabkar (1969-1981)
  • Luigi Bellotti (1981-1985)
  • Henri Lemaître (1985-1992)
  • Giovanni Ceirano (1992-1999)
  • Piero Biggio (1999-2004)
  • Giovanni Tonucci (2004-2007)
  • Emil Paul Tscherrig (2008 -present)
Archdiocese of Turku Protestant Reformation Priests of the Sacred Heart Bruno Heim Scandinavian Bishops Conference
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