Church of Sweden

The Church of Sweden (Swedish: Svenska kyrkan), is a Lutheran-Protestant Christian denomination in Sweden. The denomination was established in the 16th century, when Sweden converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, and became the Swedish state church. As the 19th and 20th centuries progressed, it moved towards a more liberal theology and ecumenism.

Church of Sweden
Classification	Lutheran
Orientation	high church and Evangelical Catholic Lutheran
Polity	Episcopal
Primate	Martin Modéus
Associations	Lutheran World Federation World Council of Churches Conference of European Churches Porvoo Communion
Region	Sweden
Founder	Gustav I
Origin	1527/1593
Separated from	Roman Catholic Church
Separations	Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (1809)
Congregations	1,467
Members	6,357,508 members (66 %) (in 2013)[1]
Official website	http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/
Logo

Uppsala Cathedral

In late August 1995, the Swedish government and the Church of Sweden decided to go separate ways from 1 January 2000. The denomination mostly practices infant baptism.

Female priests were allowed in 1958, and in 1997, Christina Odenberg was appointed the denomination's first female bishop (diocese of Lund). In June 2014, Antje Jackelén became the denomination's first female archbishop (diocese of Uppsala).