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Faith Matters - The Archbishop: A German Clergywoman in Sweden

November 6, 2016

October 31, 2016, saw a special event in the Swedish city of Malmö. The Protestant and Catholic churches jointly celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Pope Francis was in attendance, and his host was the head of the Church of Sweden, Archbishop Antje Jackelén.

https://p.dw.com/p/2SEKJ

Jackelén, who has held the office since 2014, was born in Germany. She’s the first woman to head the Church of Sweden. It’s the largest Lutheran religious community in the world. That’s despite the fact that Sweden is considered one of the most secularized nations, one where the church and state were formally separated in 2000. Jackelén was born in 1955 in town of Herdecke in western Germany. She went to Sweden to study theology. There she met her future husband, also a German pastor, and decided to stay. She earned a doctorate at Lund University and then taught theology in the US. In 2007 she was named Bishop of Lund. For this documentary, Deutsche Welle interviewed Antje Jackelén a number of times and accompanied her in her daily activities, both private and professional. .