Stockholm, Sweden, Jun 28, 2017 / 15:24 pm
When thinking of the "peripheries" of the Church, many think of places such as Latin America, Africa, or maybe Asia. However, in Wednesday's consistory Pope Francis sought out a periphery that slips the minds of many: Sweden.
Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm told Vatican Insider he was "somewhat shocked" to get the news of his elevation, saying that "(w)e must also be happy that Sweden and all Scandinavia can be said to have entered the map of world Catholicism, as the gates of the Catholic Church open more to our land."
"The last become first!" he told CNA while in Rome to receive his red biretta June 28.
Catholics number only about 150,000 in the largely secular and Lutheran country, whose sole diocese is led by the new cardinal. His time as bishop has been dominated by building connections with others, both of different creeds and those who come from different lands.