Conclusion of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference’s Plenary Assembly in Rome

06.09.2025

The bishops of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference convened for a Plenary Assembly in Rome 1-5 September. An audience with Pope Leo XIV marked the high point of the assembly.
 

Witnesses to Unity in a Time of Increasing Fragmentation

In his opening speech, Bishop Erik Varden, the conference’s president, spoke of holiness, courage and virtue as qualities we must bring to a world marked by war, fragmentation, and moral uncertainty. These themes were reflected in the assembly’s agenda. The bishops noted an increasing interest in the Catholic Church in the Nordic countries. The number of catechumens and converts is increasing. They are not just to be received into the Church, the bishops stress; our task is as much to prepare them to become mature, credible witnesses to the Gospel.
 

Encounter with Leo XIV: ‘You have something to give the global Church’

An encounter with Pope Leo constituted the high point of the assembly. The pope received our conference on Thursday morning, straight after his meeting with the president of Israel, Yitzhak Herzog. Speaking without a script, Pope Leo encouraged us to keep working for true ecumenism. Our task, he told the bishops, is to use the message of the Gospel to challenge and gift the people of our time who long for fullness of life. The pope said: ‘You have something to give to the global Church through the joyful, living faith of your countries’. The Church must be, and ever more become, missionary. 
 

Implementation of the Synod of Bishops — Synodality in Northern Europe

Heeding the pope’s call for a more missionary Church, the bishops wish to further the implementation of the worldwide Synod of Bishops in the Nordic countries. An inter-Nordic synodal team was set up, to apply the fruits of the synodal process. Bishop Erik Varden stresses that ‘effective synodal structures already exist in our Nordic context and are put to use productively.’ The further implementation of the synodal process must always be ‘focused on the goal our synodos seeks to reach, Christ himself’.
 

The Situation in the Near East: ‘Our hearts bleed’.

Bishop Bürcher, a long-standing member of the Holy Land Commission, spoke of his experiences: ‘This war, the suffering of the population in Gaza, the hostages still imprisoned — this entire situation causes our hearts to bleed.’ United with the intention of the Holy Father, the bishops urgently hope that ‘the release of all hostages can be achieved, a permanent ceasefire reached with urgency, the safe entry of humanitarian aid into the most affected areas be facilitated, and full respect for humanitarian law be ensured’. On the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a celebration with roots in the Holy Land, the bishops will exhort the faithful in the Nordic countries to pray for true, just, and lasting peace in the Holy Land. 

(NBK)