On the 21st of May last, during the message which accompanies the recital of the Regina Coeli in St Peter’s square, Pope Francis announced the celebration of a Consistory on the 28th of June for the appointment of five new Cardinals, among whom was Mons. Lars Anders Arbolelius, ocd, who since 1998 has been the Bishop of Stockholm.
Monsignor Arborelius was born in Sorengo, Switzerland, on the 24th September 1949, into the heart of a non-practicing Lutheran family. When his parents were divorced, he went with his mother to Lund, in Sweden, where he acquired the nationality of that country.
When he was converted to Catholicism at the age of 20, the writings of St Therese of the Child Jesus moved him to enter our Order, in the Flanders Province. He did his studies in Bruges, (Belgium) and in the Teresianum in Rome. He was appointed Bishop in 1998 by St John Paul II, and was ordained Bishop that same year.
From the coming 29th June, the day on which he will become Cardinal, he will be changed into a counsellor close to Pope Francis, called to uphold the Pope’s service as Bishop of Rome and universal Pastor of the Church, as well as being called himself to serve the ecclesial communion and be a joyful herald of the Gospel, as Pope Francis reminded us in his message.
