News by email Donate

Suggestions

Top Stories

Most Read

Popular Videos

Oslo-church-catholic-main_article_image.jpg
Creative Commons/ David Castor
World News

Norwegian Church fined for exaggerating membership numbers

The Diocese of Oslo is accused of going through telephone directories and adding the names of immigrants to the list of members of the church between 2011 and 2014.

By exaggerating the number of Catholics, the Church was entitled to obtain government subsidies for religious minorities.

The diocese's chief administrative officer, Thuan cong Pham, has been charged with aggravated fraud.

"We've never done anything illegal or received too much money," the Catholic Church said in a statement to The Local Norway.

"We have always recognised that we have made mistakes and had an unfortunate practise in parts of our registration. This was cleaned up a long [time] ago."

As well as imposing the fine, the Norwegian state is seeking a reimbursement of 40.6 million Krone (£3.8 million) which was paid to the church in subsidies under the false figures.

The Church has said in its defence that a recent wave of immigration from Lithuania and Poland has increased membership figures.

Norway national statistics report that the Catholic Church in Norway has about 145,000 members.

A Monthly Gift Of $11 Makes A World Of Difference

In a world of fake news there’s never been a greater need for quality Christian journalism. Premier’s mission is to provide the Church with the most up to date and relevant news, told from a Christian perspective. But we can’t do it without you.

Unlike many websites we haven't put up a paywall — we want to keep our journalism free at the point of need and as open as we can. Premier’s news output takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. No one in the USA is sharing news like we are across radio, magazines and online so please help us to continue that today.

For a monthly gift of $11 or more we’d also be able to send you a free copy of the brand new Premier Bible, a wonderful Anglicised version of the NLT packed with exclusive bonus content, reading plan and resources to help you get the most out of scripture.

Your monthly support will make a world of difference. Thank you.

Support Us
Continue the conversation on our Facebook page

Related Articles

Sign up to our newsletter to stay informed with news from a Christian perspective.

News by email

Connect

Donate

Donate