The new archbishop: "The Church has an obligation to speak"

Antje Jackelén has become popular within Sápmi.

But because of her political stances, she has also faced criticism over the years, above all from the right-wing political side.

Aktuellt noticed this when they interviewed the newly elected successor.

- The important thing right now is to explain what compass I have to judge where to speak out and not.

When the value and dignity of man and creation are threatened, then the church has an obligation to speak, says Martin Modéus when Aktuellt presenter Nike Nylander asks what he thinks the church should get involved in.

"Good for us to talk"

Current affairs: The Church took a stand against the establishment of a mine in Kallak quite recently, why should the Church of Sweden get into such concrete issues?

- You can always discuss the degree of concreteness, I think it's good that we talk about that.

But if you at least have this compass, you can make it understandable why the church is involved in certain issues and not in others, says Martin Modéus.

Current Affairs: Am I hearing some self-criticism from you now about these issues?

- Antje Jackelén is currently responsible for the current issues.

But I always think we should evaluate.

We went in, we spoke that way, people said that and that's how we get to tune it against this compass.

Martin Modéus is the current bishop in the diocese of Linköping.

He was elected archbishop in the second round of elections with 59 percent of the vote.

He succeeds Archbishop Antje Jackelén when she retires on October 30, 2022.

See more from Aktuellt's interview with the newly elected archbishop in the clip above.