The Holy See established what has evolved into its Apostolic Nunciature to the Nordic Countries on 16 March 1960 under the title Apostolic Delegation to Scandinavia with responsibility for representing the interests of the pope and the Catholic Church in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.[1] It was originally located in Vedbæk, Denmark; since 2002 its office has been in Djursholm, Sweden,[2] a suburb of Stockholm. The Holy See now has diplomatic relations with each of those countries and the Holy See appoints a nuncio, to date always the same person, to each of them.
The representative of the Holy See holds an ecclesiastical office, but the title varies according to the office's relationship to governments. The original title "Delegate" is used for an envoy whose relationship to the government has not received diplomatic statues. It usually evolves to Pro-Nuncio and then Nuncio as diplomatic relations are established and a formal agreement is reached between the Holy See and its counterpart. In the case of the Nordic Countries, the first Apostolic Delegate was appointed on 7 March 1960,[3] though he had by then already, under the title "Apostolic Visitor", visited the reigning monarchs of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and announced plans to visit the president of Finland.[4] The delegate received the additional titles Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Finland on 16 February 1966 and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Iceland on 8 October 1976. On 2 October 1982 the Delegation was reorganized into country-specific nunciatures in anticipation of the establishment of diplomatic relations with each of them. All were first led by a Pro-Nuncio.
Since 1959, all the titles associated with the Nordic Countries, whatever their number, have been held by a single Vatican diplomat, though at times his appointment to all these offices have not occurred at the same time, as diplomatic assignments required the approval of the host country.
