Anders Harald Wejryd (born 8 August 1948) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

clergyman. Having been Bishop of Växjö since 1995, he was elected

Archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. Historical ove ...

and primate of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

in March 2006 and took office in September of the same year. He left office in 2014, and was replaced with

Antje Jackelén Antje Jackelén (; born 4 June 1955) is archbishop emerita and primate emerita ('' prima inter pares'') of the Church of Sweden, the national church. On 15 October 2013, she was elected the 70th Archbishop of Uppsala and formally received throu ...

Early life and ministry

Wejryd studied at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, where he received his

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

degree in 1972. In the same year, he was ordained priest in

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

. He has served as priest in Västerås,

Munktorp Munktorp is a locality situated in Köping Municipality, Västmanland County, Sweden with 455 inhabitants in 2010. Munktorp is the site of the historic Munktorp Church (''Munktorps kyrka''). The church is associated with St. David of Munktorp (' ...

and

Arboga Arboga () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Arboga Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 10,989 inhabitants in 2020. Overview The city of Arboga is known to have existed as a town since the 13th century but the are ...

, and was

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of the parish Munktorp-Odensvi from 1978 to 1985, and vicar of Arboga parish and

rural dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...

of the deanery Köping-Arboga from 1985 to 1987. In the 1980s, he continued part-time doctoral studies, doing research on

Nathan Söderblom Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom (; 15 January 1866 – 12 July 1931) was a Swedish bishop. He was the Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala from 1914 to 1931, and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize. He is commemorated in the Calendar of ...

's missionary work until 1987, when his new job left him no time to continue. From 1987 to 1995 he was director of Ersta diakonisällskap (a church-connected foundation in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

running a small hospital, social care activities and a nursing college), before becoming Bishop of Växjö in 1995, and Archbishop of Uppsala in 2006.

Archiepiscopacy

Wejryd was the first Archbishop to be elected after the separation of the Church of Sweden from the state on 1 January 2000. This meant that the

Government of Sweden The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister and their ...

had no role in his appointment. In the preliminary election on 8 February 2006, he received 33% of the votes among 14 candidates (of which only eight received any votes at all). In the first round of voting on 15 March, six candidates remained, and Wejryd received a plurality of votes, 44.6%, but not an absolute majority, with

Ragnar Persenius Per Ragnar Theodor Persenius (born 27 June 1952) was the Bishop of Uppsala from 2000 till his retirement in 2019. He previously headed the Church of Sweden's Department of Theology and Ecumenism. Biography The son of Walter Persenius, pastor o ...

as runner-up at 30.8%. A second round of voting between Wejryd and Persenius was arranged on 30 March, when Wejryd received 176 votes (58.1%) against 127 for Persenius. Wejryd took up his office on 2 September 2006. He met with

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

in March 2007. In June 2010, he officiated at the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling.Royalcourt.se 2009-08-22: ''Officianter utnämnda till vigseln mellan Kronprinsessan Victoria och herr Daniel Westling''

References

CV of Anders Wejryd
at the Church of Sweden official website.
Press release
at the Church of Sweden official website on Wejryd's election as new archbishop, dated 30 March 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wejryd, Anders 1948 births Living people People from Falköping Bishops of Växjö Lutheran archbishops of Uppsala 20th-century Swedish Lutheran bishops 21st-century Lutheran archbishops Uppsala University alumni 21st-century Swedish Lutheran bishops Swedish Lutheran archbishops