Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockholm

This article is about the diocese of the Catholic Church. For the diocese of the Church of Sweden, see Diocese of Stockholm (Church of Sweden).

Catholic Diocese of Stockholm Dioecesis Holmiensis Stockholms katolska stift
Location
Country	Sweden
Metropolitan	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Coordinates	59°18′50″N 18°04′21″E
Statistics
Area	450,000 km2 (170,000 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2016) 9,851,017 113,053 ( 1.1%)
Parishes	44
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	1953
Cathedral	Saint Eric's Cathedral
Secular priests	158
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Anders Arborelius
Website
www.katolskakyrkan.se/1/1.0.1.0/107/2/

The Diocese of Stockholm (Latin: Dioecesis Holmiensis; Swedish: Stockholms katolska stift) is an exempt Latin Catholic ecclesiastical bishopric in Sweden and the only Roman Catholic diocese established in Sweden since the Protestant Reformation.

Its cathedral episcopal see is Saint Erik's Cathedral, in Sweden's capital city, Stockholm. The former Catholic cathedrals ('domkyrka') in Linköping, Lund, Skara, Strängnäs, Uppsala (archiepiscopal), Västerås and Växjö have all been turned into Lutheran churches, like the World Heritage Site Nederluleå kyrka in Gammelstaden.

The diocese of Stockholm, which belongs to no ecclesiastical province but forms an episcopal conference with its Nordic neighbours, includes 44 parishes and covers the entire country of Sweden.

History

Antecedents

Between 1521 and 1550 the episcopates of the last Roman Catholic bishops in Sweden and Finland ended. Thereafter Lutheranism prevailed in Sweden-Finland as well as in Danish Scania, which later became part of Sweden.

In 1582 the stray Catholics in Sweden and elsewhere in Northern Europe were placed under the jurisdiction of a papal nuncio in Cologne. The Congregation de propaganda fide, on its establishment in 1622, took charge of the vast missionary field, which – at its third session – it divided among the nuncio of Brussels (for the Catholics in Denmark and Norway), the nuncio at Cologne (much of Northern Germany) and the nuncio to Poland (Sweden-Finland, and Mecklenburg).

In 1688 Sweden became part of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Nordic Missions. The German Paderborn bishops functioned as administrators of the apostolic vicariate.

See of Stockholm

• When a new Catholic missionary jurisdiction was established, it was not at any of the ancient episcopal sees but an Apostolic prefecture of Sweden in 1781, created out of parts of the Nordic Missions comprising then Sweden and Finland.
• On 23 September 1783 the apostolic prefecture was promoted to the Apostolic Vicariate of Sweden, seated in the Swedish capital Stockholm, entitled to a titular bishop but apparently until 1862 without this actual rank. The Apostolic Vicariate of Sweden also included Finland between 1783 and 1809 (then passed to the Russian-imperial Mohilev Archdiocese) ...
• ... and the southern areas of Norway between 1834 and 7 August 1868 (thereafter Mission sui juris of Norway, later Apostolic Prefecture of Norway), whereas Norway north of the polar circle formed part of Sweden vicariate from 1834 to 1855, then becoming the Apostolic Prefecture of the North Pole.
• On 29 June 1953 the Apostolic Vicariate of Sweden was promoted to Diocese Stockholm, named after its see, while the same diocesan status was given in Norway to the new bishopric of Oslo.
• It enjoyed Papal visits by Pope John Paul II in June 1989 and by Pope Francis in October/November 2016.

Statistics

As per 2014 it pastorally served 106,831 Catholics (1.1% of 9,651,531 total) on 450,000 km² 44 parishes and 13 missions with 159 priests (78 diocesan, 81 religious), 31 deacons, 269 lay religious (96 brothers, 173 sisters) and 9 seminarians.

Episcopal ordinaries

(all Roman Rite)

Apostolic Vicars of Sweden

1. Nicolaus Oster (1783–1790)
2. Rafael d'Ossery (1790–1795)
3. Paolo Moretti (1795–1804)
4. Jean Baptiste Gridaine (1805–1833)
5. Jacob Laurentius Studach (born Switzerland) (1833.08.10 – death 1873.05.09), Titular Bishop of Orthosia (1862.05.22 – 1873.05.09)
6. Father Johan Georg Huber (1874.09.01 – death 1886.03.25)
7. Albert Bitter (1886.07.27 – retired 1922.10.09), Titular Bishop of Doliche (1893.06.15 – 1922.10.09); emeritate as Titular Archbishop of Soltania (1922.10.09 – death 1926.12.19)
8. Johannes Erik Müller (born Germany) (1922.10.09 – 1953.06.29 see below), Titular Bishop of Lorea (1922.10.09 – 1953.06.29)
   1. Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic: Knut Ansgar Nelson, English Benedictine Congregation (E.B.C.) (born Denmark) (1947.08.11 – 1953.06.29), see below next Coadjutor Bishop (1953.06.29 – succession 1957.10.01)

Exempt Bishops of Stockholm

1. Johannes Erik Müller (see above 1953.06.29 – retired 1957.08.01); emeritate as Titular Archbishop of Pompeiopolis in Cilicia (1957.08.01 – death 1965.04.05)
2. (Knut) Ansgar Nelson, (E.B.C.) (see above 1957.10.01 – retired 1962.07.02), succeeding as former Titular Bishop of Bilta (1947.08.11 – 1957.10.01) first as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Sweden (1947.08.11 – 1953.06.29), restyled Coadjutor Bishop of Stockholm (1953.06.29 – 1957.10.01); next emeritate as Titular Bishop of Dura (1962.07.02 – death 1990.03.31)
3. John E. Taylor (born USA) (1962.07.02 – death 1976), also President of Scandinavian Episcopal Conference (1970 – 1973)
4. Hubertus Brandenburg (1977.11.21 – retired 1998.11.17), died 2009; previously Titular Bishop of Strathearn (1974.12.12 – 1977.11.21) as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Osnabrück (Germany) (1974.12.12 – 1977.11.21)
   1. Auxiliary Bishop: William Kenney, Passionists (C.P.) (born England, UK) (1987.05.13 – 2006.10.17), Titular Bishop of Midica (1987.05.13 – ...); next Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Birmingham (England) (2006.10.17 – ...)
5. Anders Arborelius (1998.11.17 – ...), also President of Scandinavian Episcopal Conference (2005.10 – 2015.09.09), Vice-President of Scandinavian Episcopal Conference (2015.09.09 – ...).

See also

• List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Europe

Sources and external links

• GCatholic, with Google map - data for all sections
• Official website
• Catholic-Hierarchy.org ^{[self-published]}