Roman Catholicism in Finland

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The church of the Holy Family of Nazareth Parish in Oulu, February 2006

The Catholic Church in Finland is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

Finland has the lowest proportion of Catholics in the whole of Europe with only 0.1% of the population or about 10,000 people. Many Catholics in the country are foreign born, especially Polish. About half of the priests are Polish, and there is only one Finnish born priest. The bishop of Helsinki is Józef Wróbel SCJ (2001–).

Finland forms a single diocese the Diocese of Helsinki and the bishop participates in the Scandinavian Bishops Conference.

[edit] History

The first Catholic services after the death of Catholic Duke John where held in Finland in 1796 by the apostolic vicar of Stockholm Paolo Moretti.

The parish Vyborg was establised 1799 in the Russian part of Old Finland. After the rest of Finland became part of the Russian Empire in 1812, the parish covered the whole Grand Duchy of Finland. There were about 3000 Catholics in 1830. All priests until 1860s were Lithuanian Dominicans. The parish of Helsinki was founded 1856, possibly due the influence of the General Governor Friedrich Wilhelm von Berg's Italian wife countess Leopoldina Cicogna. The Church of St. Henry was finished 1860 in Helsinki. In 1882 all the German priests and nuns were expelled. All foreign priests were expelled again in 1912. After Finland's independence and removal of Russian military, the Catholic church lost most of its members.

In 1920 a Apostolic vicariate was establised in Finland. Parish of Turku was establised in 1926, and 1927 Parish of Terijoki. The Government granted the Catholic Church in Finland the status of religious community in 1929. Finland established diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1942 and the pope Pius XII donated significant sum of money to Finnish war orphans. After the war the Parishes of Vyborg and Terijoki from the ceded territories were moved to Lahti and a new parish founded in 1949 in Jyväskylä.

A new church of Assumption of Mary was finished in Helsinki 1954. In 1955 the apostolic vicarship was made a diocese. The Parish of Tampere was establised in 1957, the Parish of Kouvola 1985 and the Parish of Oulu 1992.

[edit] The relics of Henry

The ownership of relics of Bishop Henry caused some controversy between the National Board of Antiquities, the Catholic Church in Finland, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. In 1998 the priest of Parish of St. Henry in Helsinki wished to relocate the relic in the Cathedral of Saint Henry in Helsinki, even it was previously hold in the Lutheral Cathedral of Turku. As the owner by the law on antiquities, the National Board of Antiquities chose to situate the bone in the Cathedral of Saint Henry in Helsinki.