Thomas Ingemar Petersson (born 8 April 1968) is a Swedish prelate who is the former Bishop of Visby.

Biography

Thomas Petersson was ordained priest in 1992 for the

Diocese of Linköping The Diocese of Linköping ( sv, Linköpings stift) is a diocese within the Church of Sweden administering the Östergötland County, the north eastern part of Jönköping County and the northern part of Kalmar County. It comprises nine deanerie ...

. He worked as a pastor of

St. Lawrence's Church, Söderköping St. Lawrence's Church ( sv, S:t Laurentii kyrka) is a medieval Lutheran church in Söderköping, Sweden. The original church was dedicated to Lawrence of Rome and the church retained its name also following the Reformation. It is located in centr ...

between 1993-1995 and as a Stiftsadjunkt in the

between 1995 and 2002. He also served as pastor of the Ryds parish in Linköping from 2002 till 2006 and pastor of the Victoriaförsamlingen in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

between 2006-2011. In 2011 he was appointed as Dean of

Växjö Cathedral Växjö Cathedral ( sv, Växjö domkyrka) is a cathedral in Växjö, Sweden. It is the seat of the Bishop of Växjö within the Church of Sweden. According to legend, the cathedral was founded by Saint Sigfrid of Sweden. The first stone church ...

and in 2014, in addition to being Dean, he became parish priest of the parish of Växjö, a parish consisting of 8 united churches. On March 5, 2018, he was elected bishop of Visby. He was consecrated bishop by Archbishop

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 through ...

on June 3 the same year. He was installed as Bishop in

Visby Cathedral Visby Cathedral ( sv, Visby domkyrka), formally Visby Saint Mary's Cathedral (''Visby S:ta Maria domkyrka'') is a cathedral within the Church of Sweden, seat of the Bishop of Visby. It lies in the centre of Visby, the main town on the Swedish ...

on June 9.

Removal as Bishop of Visby

On 1 February 2022, Petersson was

laicized In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the loss of clerical state (commonly referred to as laicization, dismissal, defrocking, and degradation) is the removal of a bishop, priest, or deacon from the status of being a member of the clergy. The t ...

by the Church of Sweden's disciplinary committee and removed as Bishop of Visby for breach of conduct relating to an

extra-marital Extramarital sex occurs when a marriage, married person engages in human sexual activity, sexual activity with someone other than their spouse. The term may be applied to the situation of a single person having sex with a married person. Where ex ...

affair with an employee within the diocese. It was the first time the church laicized and removed a bishop since Dick Helander in 1954.Finns en gräns för vilket liv man kan leva
(in Swedish) 2022-02-01

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petersson, Thomas 1968 births Living people Swedish Lutheran bishops 21st-century Lutheran bishops