Message of Cardinal Koch for the Ordination of the new Catholic Bishop of Helsinki

On 25 November 2023, the ordination of the new Catholic Bishop of Helsinki, Mons. Raimo Ramón Goyarrola Belda, took place in Helsinki. As the small Catholic Cathedral of St Henry would not have been able to accommodate the large number of people attending, the Catholics were kindly allowed to use the Evangelical Lutheran St John's Church for the occasion. Many ecumenical representatives took part in the ordination service, which was presided over by H.E. Cardinal Anders Arborelius OCD, Bishop of Stockholm.

Father Dr Augustinus Sander, OSB, Official of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU), presented a greeting from Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the DPCU, in which he recognised the special ecumenical cooperation in Finland and encouraged the new bishop in his service to unity.

Mons. Goyarrola, most recently General Vicar of the Catholic Church of Finland, was involved in a Catholic-Lutheran working group from 2014 to 2017, which published the document "Growth in Communion" as a result of the regional dialogue in Finland.

_{Photos © Matti Repo}