catholic World Report:5 Févr 2014: au milieu d'une effroyable déchristianisation chez les protestants, un petit pas en avant dans l'Est de la Finlande: <br />

a new Catholic church will be consecrated in May in Kuopio. While Mass has already been celebrated there, the new church will become officially operational after its consecration on May 3rd, 2014, in Kuopio. (...) The church in Kuopio will be dedicated to St. Joseph and is due to initially function as a chapel in the district of St. Olav's parish church, which is located some 150 kms (slightly over 90 miles) away in Jyväskylä, with Mass scheduled to be celebrated once or twice a month. Interestingly, the church was not built from scratch, but is a pre-existing Evangelical-Lutheran church, the Männistön vanhan kirkko (named after the area of the city, Männistö), which the Evangelical Lutheran Church sold to the Catholic Church on November 27th, 2013, for €800,000 (over $1,080,000), according the Finnish Catholic Information Service KATT. It is obvious that the newly-purchased building, although in good condition, will have to be suitably renovated and adapted in order to be turned into a full-fledged Catholic parish. The deal was made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor. If, on the one hand, the Evangelical Lutheran church had come to the difficult decision to sell the building also due to financial constraints, on the other hand, the Lutherans were more than happy that it was purchased by the Catholic Church and thus could continue being used for religious purposes. Bishop Teemu Sippo was quoted as saying that “we were warmly received” and “I would also like to emphasize the church doors remain open to all those who would like to come in” for prayerful recollection. According to latest available figures, Finland has the lowest proportion of Catholics in all of Europe, 0.2%, numbering almost 12,000 out of a population of over 5 million people. Nevertheless, as also reflected by the establishment of this new church in Kuopio, the Catholic Church has grown considerably, from about only 3000 faithful thirty years ago. This growth due in part to immigration, but also to conversion. For example, Timo Soini, presidential candidate and the leader of the main opposition party in Parliament, Perussuomalaiset (in English, the “Finns Party” or “True Finn Party”), is a convert to Catholicism who has often come under media fire for his open pro-life and pro-family standpoints.

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