Sweden ends up being the first country with more priestesses than priests

Archbishop Antje Jackelén and Pope Francis. Photo: Telegrafi

The Church of Sweden has become the first in the world where the number of female priests exceeds that of male priests, reports Telegrafi. Among the 3,060 ordained priests in the Church of Sweden, 1,533, or 50.1%, are women.

At the Swedish Synod in 1958, the priesthood was officially opened to women as well, but there was also a so-called "conscience clause", meaning that bishops who were theologically opposed to women's ordination did not have to do so. As a result, the first ordinations of women took place only in 1975.

The publication notes that since then, the feminization of the clergy progressed much faster than the Church of Sweden had predicted. A 1990 report suggested it would take about a century for women to make up half of the clergy. However, this threshold was reached just 30 years later, according to Telegrafi.

The process of liberalization in the Church of Sweden continued. In 2009, Eva Brunne became the world’s first openly lesbian bishop.

The Church of Sweden, the largest Lutheran community in Europe, was the state church until 2000. According to a Gallup International poll, Swedes are among the least religious nations in the world. Only one fifth of the population declares that they are believers and only two percent of the members of the Swedish church regularly participate in Sunday mass, Telegrafi reports.

Earlier, it was reported that Sweden is among the top five most intolerant countries towards Christians.

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