St. Heinrich Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland / Adobe Stock
Despite Finland’s status as one of the richest countries in the world, the sole Catholic diocese in the country is in great need of resources — funds, priests, and even buildings in which to hold Mass.
The one thing the Diocese of Helsinki does not lack is a vibrant Catholic population. Although it currently constitutes only 0.2% of the country’s 5.5 million residents, it has seen a steady rise in conversions in recent years and is continuing to grow.
According to Aid to the Church (ACN) UK, the latest statistics on the Catholic population are from 2018, when 15,000 registered Catholics and 10,000 unregistered Catholics lived in the country. However, Helsinki Bishop Raimo Goyarrola said in a 2023 interview with The Pillar that the diocese officially had 17,000 Catholics but that he estimated there were actually about 30,000 due to Catholic immigrants from Africa and Latin American countries.
“But we have a very alive Church, which grows every year with more or less 500 new Catholics,” he told The Pillar at the time.
According to ACN UK, Bishop Goyarrola appreciates Finnish Catholics’ commitment to their faith and their willingness to evangelize. However, with new converts come more responsibilities for already overworked priests.
ACN UK reported that the diocese currently contains eight parishes and 28 priests who minister to thousands of Catholics across the 130,692-square mile country. Priests travel halfway across the country to reach parishioners, according to ACN UK.
Bishop Goyarrola told ACN UK, “Every weekend we cover thousands of kilometres to bring the heavenly food to our faithful.”
“There are many families who ask to have tabernacles in the village but there is no church,” he added.
Bishop Goyarrola said that 20 Lutheran and five Eastern Orthodox churches allow the Catholics to use their buildings every Sunday for Mass.
ACN UK reported that the Catholic Church in Finland is among the poorest churches in Europe, despite Finland ranking 13th on the Human Development Index. The index measures countries’ average life expectancy, levels of education, and gross national income per person. The higher the ranking, the more well-off a country is deemed to be.
The Church also does not receive state support, unlike the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
“Bishop Goyarrola said he struggles to cover basic needs like paying staff, running catechism courses and supporting charitable programmes,” ACN UK reported. “There is no money to build chapels, Catholic schools or pastoral centres for children.”
Despite Finnish Catholics’ status as a minority religion, Bishop Goyarrola told ACN UK they “don’t hide and are not afraid to let the people around them know that they are Catholics, or to speak to them about Christ.”
“They speak naturally about the Eucharist and about Jesus,” he said. “They are missionaries and apostles everywhere they go and are an example to the rest of the world.”
