Cardinal Anders Arborelius, O.C.D.

Photo: TT

Bishop of Stockholm, Sweden

Dioceses/Religious Orders: Order of Discalced Carmelites, Diocese of Stockholm

Until 2010, the church in Sweden had only acknowledged a single case of sexual abuse. The Catholic Church in Sweden has just one diocese in Stockholm, led by Arborelius since 1998. According to Swedish Radio, Arborelius and his predecessor, Bishop Hubertus Brandenburg, were notified in 2003 and 1990 respectively, about the abuse of two young sisters in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The accused priest had been permitted to remain in ministry through the mid-1990s, being transferred to several different parishes since the late 1960s. According to the victim, when she contacted the Diocese of Stockholm, she was advised to talk to a therapist.

When the allegation became public in 2010, Arborelius apologized saying he would resign if necessary and promised that a canonical investigation would be opened into the accused priest. Arborelius said it was “naive” of him to believe there had only been one case in the country. According to Swedish Radio, Arborelius said they knew there was more abuse, but “had not yet investigated it.”

Arborelius was criticized in 2019 after it was discovered that two priests who appeared on “credibly accused” lists in the United States had been permitted to work in Sweden. One Carmelite priest, Fr. George Kavungal, had been accused in 2002 of abuse in the Diocese of Gary. At the time, he was working in Sweden, and remained in ministry there until he was reported for assaulting a disabled woman at a healing service in 2004. Arborelius claimed the Diocese of Stockholm did not know of Kavungal’s history and contacted his superior after the 2004 report to ask for him to be removed from Sweden. When questioned by SVT about Kavungal’s subsequent transfer to Kenya where he became director of a school, Arborelius said, “Yes, we heard that he was in Africa, but we assumed that his superiors would ensure that this could not happen again.” As of 2018, the Chicago Tribune reported that Kavungal was alive and believed to be in India. There was no available evidence that he had ever been laicized.

Another priest, Fr. Paul Nguyen, left the United States without being charged by the police or disciplined by the Diocese of San Bernardino after being accused of abusing a minor at St. Francis de Sales in Riverside, California. His congregation had not been informed of the allegations before he worked in Malmö between 2003 and 2004 as principal of the Vietnamese Mission in southern Sweden. After another allegation was made against Nguyen, Arborelius said he did not report the incident to police as the alleged victim “did not want the priest to be brought to justice.” Arborelius said the priest should be returned to his diocese to receive treatment. The Diocese of San Bernardino’s 2018 list of “credibly accused” priests reports Nguyen’s whereabouts are unknown.