Swedish cardinal is Catholic convert in sea of atheists

Swedish cardinal Anders Arborelius (C) arrives for the seventh congregation meeting at The Vatican, on April 30, 2025.  Agence France-Presse

VATICAN CITY — Sweden’s first cardinal, Anders Arborelius, is a convert to Catholicism in the overwhelmingly Protestant Scandinavian country, which is home to one of the world’s most secularized societies.

The 75-year-old says he is “highly unlikely” to be elected as the successor to Pope Francis in next week’s conclave, but many commentators believe the race is wide open.

As Bishop of Stockholm, Arborelius is the first Swedish Catholic bishop since the Protestant Reformation — his predecessors having been named from other countries due to a dearth of home-grown Catholic priests in predominantly Lutheran Sweden.

The diocese of Stockholm comprises the entire country, home to about 128,000 Catholics, or about 1.6 percent of the total population.

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Arborelius was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2017 — a year after the pontiff’s ecumenical visit to Sweden to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation — becoming the first Nordic prelate to wear the cardinal’s scarlet robes.

Under Pope Francis, he was a member of four Vatican dicasteries, or government ministries: those for the Clergy, Bishops, the Eastern Churches, and Promoting Christian Unity.

A defender of Church doctrine, Arborelius views his ministry as a mission to safeguard the biblical message, particularly in his country, which is at the forefront of LGBTQ rights and where Protestant pastors can marry, even if they are of the same sex.

“The Church condemns all forms of unjust discrimination, including that based on gender or sexual orientation,” he wrote along with his Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic counterparts in a letter from the Nordic Bishops’ Conference.

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“However, we disagree when this movement puts forward a vision of human nature that disregards the bodily integrity of the person, as if physical gender were a pure accident,” the letter continued.

Arborelius is opposed to the modernizing efforts of certain German bishops — including allowing women as deacons and blessing same-sex couples — whom the Vatican accuses of wanting to create a new Protestant Church.

Church of migrants

Born in Switzerland, Arborelius grew up in a Lutheran family in Lund, in the south of Sweden, but was not particularly observant.

“Lutherans are not very active in their church,” he told the Catholic television channel EWTN in 2005.

The trend is true of many Swedes — more than two-thirds do not believe in God, and those who marry in a religious ceremony or baptise their children often never set foot in a church again, according to a 2020 study by the University of Gothenburg.

In fact, 90 percent of Swedes never or rarely attend church services, according to the study.

“Sweden has become a very secular country,” Arborelius told EWTN.

In 1969, at the age of 20 and fascinated by the Carmelite nun Therese of Lisieux, Arborelius converted to Catholicism.

Two years later, he joined the Order of Discalced Carmelites, a contemplative religious congregation belonging to the mendicant orders.

He studied modern languages in Lund and theology in Bruges, where he took his vows, before entering the order’s pontifical faculty in Rome.

He became a priest in 1979 and took up residence in the Carmelite convent of Norraby, in southern Sweden.

After two decades of monastic life, in 1998 he was appointed Bishop of Stockholm by John Paul II.

Between 2005 and 2015, he presided over the Nordic Bishops’ Conference and held various posts in the Vatican Curia.

Echoing the views of Pope Francis, Arborelius advocates welcoming migrants to Europe, including Christians, Catholics and potential converts.

Thanks to them, the Catholic Church of Sweden continues to grow, while the Lutheran Church, the state religion until 2000, has since then lost nearly 1.5 million members who no longer wish to pay the tax to fund it.

“The Catholic Church in Sweden is a Church of migrants,” Arborelius said in 2018.

“Many of us come from other countries and some from other denominations. As Christians, we are all pilgrims on the way to God’s heavenly kingdom.”