The 1890 Gothic revival Saint John’s church, whose soaring spire dominates its part of the city, had previously been leased by the Catholics from the Protestants to house services conducted by Polish priests for the benefit of the Polish immigrant community. It also served the faithful from Ukraine.
“We can speak of stabilization and our place in Stockholm,” Father Paweł Drążyk of the Polish Catholic Mission told Poland’s state news agency, PAP.
A joint statement issued by Stockholm’s Lutheran bishop, Andreas Holmberg, and his Catholic counterpart, Cardinal Anders Arorelius, stressed the importance of ecumenism.
“What is important is that the church continues to serve Christians,” the statement read.
Prior to the purchase, whose details were not disclosed, Stockholm’s Polish Catholic community was in danger of losing their place of worship. The poor technical state of the temple necessitated it be periodically taken out of use and the Church of Sweden wanted to divest itself of the structure, which could then be converted to other uses.
The dwindling numbers of the Lutheran faithful results in many of the denomination’s churches being converted to community centers, gyms, or craft breweries.
By contrast, the Catholic Church in the country has grown in numbers by 19,000 faithful over the past decade, with the bulk of the number being immigrants, including Poles.
The official number of Catholics in Sweden stands at 130,000, with estimates going as high as 150,000. This increase necessitates that the Church acquire additional structures to serve as places of worship.
St. John’s church will be the fourth Catholic temple in central Stockholm.
