Elections of the Church of Sweden: "The budget is the business of elected officials"

2021-09-18T16:24:08.357Z

This Sunday is voting day in Sweden. But a rather special vote because it is about the kyrkovalet, the elections of the Church of Sweden, which allow the faithful to participate in life and especially ...

Elections of the Church of Sweden: "The budget is the business of elected officials"

Audio 01:21

Priest Sandra Signarsdotter before Sunday service at Gustaf Vasa Lutheran Church in Odenplan, Stockholm on August 23, 2020. AFP - JONATHAN NACKSTRAND

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

This Sunday is voting day in Sweden.

But a rather special vote because it is about the kyrkovalet, the elections of the Church of Sweden, which allow the faithful to participate in the life and especially in the management of the finances of their community.

Reporting.

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With our correspondent in Stockholm,

Frédéric Faux

You enter there, you show your identity card and your voting card, and then you take these ballots

," indicates the assessor.

What's your name ?

»«

Värbro

», answers the young woman.

“

Värbro, there you are.
Thank you for voting.

►

To listen and read also: The Church of Sweden: women pastors more numerous than men [International report]

It looks like an election like any other, except that the assessor wears a white ruff and we are in the rectory of a church in Stockholm.

This Lutheran Protestantism stood out during the twentieth century by its many liberal positions.

The

women

will have an important role - they have even become the majority among the pastors - and, therefore, that the civil society.

Decide on Church Priorities

These elections, which take place every four years, are a legacy of the days when the Church of Sweden was a State Church, until 2000. But they are not only symbolic.

Faith and theology are for pastors and bishops, but
the budget is the business of elected officials,"

said Jiang Millington, a specialist in this electoral process within the Swedish Church.

This is important because they decide the priorities of the Church: should we hire a new deacon, stop a program, or help migrants?

Important questions knowing, for example, that the Church has remained one of the largest forest owners in the country and also one of its largest employers.

Elections of the Church of Sweden: "The budget is the business of elected officials"

Elections of the Church of Sweden: "The budget is the business of elected officials"

Decide on Church Priorities

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