Pope Leo XIV appoints Cardinal Pietro Parolin to mark 1,200 years since St. Ansgar’s mission brought Christianity to Denmark.
Newsroom (22/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, will represent Pope Leo XIV in Copenhagen on January 25, 2026, to celebrate a milestone few nations can claim — twelve centuries since the Christian faith first set foot in Denmark.
The Vatican Press Office announced the appointment earlier this month, calling it both a spiritual and historical moment that connects modern believers to the very origins of Christianity in Northern Europe. Cardinal Parolin’s mission, as papal legate, underscores the enduring bond between the Holy See and the Christian heritage of Scandinavia.
When the Gospel First Crossed into the North
In a Latin letter dated December 8, Pope Leo XIV recalled the extraordinary journey that began in 826, when St. Ansgar, a young Benedictine monk, set sail alongside the newly baptized Danish ruler Harald Klak. Their mission: to carry the Christian message into a land shaped by Norse gods, tribal divisions, and suspicion of foreign faith.
Ansgar’s work was arduous and often lonely. Though many resisted conversion, he founded small Christian communities and planted what Pope Leo XIV described as “the seed of the Gospel in Scandinavian soil.” Over time, his quiet persistence earned him the title Apostle of the North.
The road from those fragile beginnings to a lasting Church was long. Only in the mid-10th century, with the baptism of King Harald Bluetooth, did Christianity take root as Denmark’s dominant faith. Yet the spirit of Ansgar’s mission—patient, self-giving, and rooted in hope—continued to shape the region’s Christian story.
A Small Church with Deep Roots
Today, Denmark remains primarily Lutheran, shaped by the Reformation of the 16th century. Yet Catholicism, though a small minority, endures with remarkable vitality. The Diocese of Copenhagen, which covers the entire country, serves members from over 150 national backgrounds — a living testament to the global nature of the Church and its missionary beginnings.
The anniversary, Church leaders say, is not merely about remembering the past but recognizing how faith continues to grow quietly across cultural and linguistic borders — much as it did in Ansgar’s time.
Charity as the Heart of Mission
Pope Leo XIV’s message for the occasion places the emphasis not on history, but on meaning. In his letter to Cardinal Parolin, the Pope identifies charity as the enduring thread connecting the Church’s past to its present. “The practice of charity,” he writes, “remains the dynamic foundation of the Church’s mission.”
For the Pope, this is not abstract theology. The Church, he says, “as a mother, can never forget her poorest children,” and its evangelical mission finds renewal whenever love is translated into action. The words echo Ansgar’s own witness — the conviction that faith is truly alive only when expressed through compassion.
A Celebration Rooted in History—and Hope
On January 25, 2026 — the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul — Cardinal Parolin will preside at a solemn Eucharistic celebration in St. Ansgar’s Cathedral, joined by Monsignor Niels Englebrecht, Father Marcos Romero Bernús, and clergy from across Scandinavia.
The choice of date carries deep symbolism. Just as Paul’s conversion transformed the early Church, so did Ansgar’s mission spark the Christian story in the North. The Vatican hopes the coincidence will remind believers that the Gospel’s power often begins in small, unexpected encounters.
In a time when faith in Northern Europe is frequently described as fading, the Vatican’s commemoration offers a counterpoint. Christianity in Denmark, it suggests, was never built on numbers or influence, but on endurance — on the quiet courage to believe when belief itself seemed unlikely.
Twelve centuries later, that same courage still calls the Church — and the world — to remember that the seeds of hope, once planted, never truly die.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Aleteia
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