Päivi Maria Räsänen, née Kuvaja (born 19 December 1959), is a Finnish politician. The chairwoman of the Christian Democrats from 2004 to 2015, she was the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

of Finland between 2011 and 2015. A physician by education, Räsänen entered politics in the early 1990s, running for parliament in 1991. She has been in the

Riihimäki Riihimäki (; ) is a town and municipality in the south of Finland, about north of Helsinki and southeast of Tampere. An important railway junction is located in Riihimäki, since railway tracks from Riihimäki lead to Helsinki, Tampere and La ...

City Council since 1993, and in the

Finnish Parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The P ...

since 1995. She was elected the chairperson of the Christian Democrats on 2 October 2004. Following the government formation after the 2011 election, which led to the Christian Democrats joining the government, Räsänen was nominated by the party as the

in the 72nd Finnish Cabinet led by Jyrki Katainen, and she was inaugurated along with the government on 22 June 2011.

Career and political positions

Räsänen has been characterized as a conservative. In 2004, she authored a small theological booklet concerning sexual related topics. In 2020, the head of a church body which distributed the booklet was investigated for incitement under 2011 changes to a minority protection law. On 12 October 2010, Räsänen was one of the participants on a live TV debate on '' Ajankohtainen kakkonens ''Homoilta'' special, with the topic of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights. As a protest, nearly 40,000 members left the state Evangelical Lutheran Church through the website '' eroakirkosta.fi'' over the next several weeks. At the time, this was the largest of such protests. Räsänen was on the show representing her party and herself as a Christian individual along with five other proponents of heterosexual rather than homosexual marriage. The church membership resignations were attributed by the media as a protest against her and then-Minister of Culture and Sports Stefan Wallin. Räsänen thinks homosexual acts are a sin and she herself does not consider her views "specifically extreme". When interviewed by ''

Ylioppilaslehti ''Ylioppilaslehti'' (Finnish language, Finnish: lit. "Student newspaper") is a Finland, Finnish student magazine founded in 1913. It is the largest student paper or magazine in Finland with a circulation of 35,000 copies. In addition to affairs r ...

'' on 29 October 2010, Räsänen said that she would favor Christians over

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

when selecting asylum seekers to Finland due, in her opinion, to Muslims' "difficulties to adjust to the Finnish culture". Her comments were condemned as "incomprehensible and merciless" by then-Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors and then-Minister of Culture and Sports Stefan Wallin. Räsänen responded to the criticism, saying her comments were misinterpreted, since she did not consider religion as the main criterion for asylum seekers' admissions, but instead she wanted to highlight the benefits of refugees' integration through religious connections. In practice, as minister in charge of immigration affairs Räsänen has advocated for increasing the number of refugees taken in by Finland, especially from Syria. In September 2012, Räsänen appointed a religiously conservative applicant, considered less qualified by the media, among six candidates to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior Affairs, which created considerable debate, especially as she had previously condemned political appointments of government officials. During parliamentary proceedings for Finland's application to join NATO, Räsänen stated:

At great turning points in history, it has taken determination and courage to act, but also humility in the face of the unknown. It is known that the human equipment of the most effective is limited. " Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." That is why even today we need the same protection that Mannerheim reminded in his daily devotional order: "May God protect Finland."

Stance on abortion

Räsänen opposes

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

. In a speech in July 2013 Räsänen contrasted abortion law to animal protection law saying that the latter gives better protection for animals than the former does to human fetuses:

"The law on animal protection gives better protection to an animal about to be put down than the law on abortion does to an unborn child. It is forbidden to cause the animal pain when slaughtering it, but no one dares to even discuss the painfulness of abortion. Abortion is defended on the grounds that the fetus is not a human person, even though it is a biological human individual from the moment of conception."

About 6,500 abortion rights supporters formally renounced their state church membership in the first six days following the controversy. The average number leaving had been 70 persons a day previously.

Trial

In 2019, she was investigated for incitement after criticizing the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (; ) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheranism, Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal position as a national church in the country, along with the Orthodox Church o ...

's official participation in LGBT Pride celebration events. In April 2021, Finnish Prosecutor General Raija Toiviainen announced that three separate charges of incitement against a minority group were being filed against her. The charges fell under a chapter of Finnish law which criminalizes "war crimes and crimes against humanity" and each charge can result in a prison sentence up to two years. The first part of her trial was held on 24 January 2022 and the second part of her trial was held on 14 February. The trial attracted international attention, and the statements and testimonies of both the firstLiveblog (stopped): Trial against Christian MP Pävi Räsänen will resume in February
''Christian Network Europe'', 24 January 2022 and secondLiveblog (closed): Second day of hearing in case against Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen
''Christian Network Europe'', 2 February 2022 parts of the trial and also the court's decision was live-blogged in English by Christian Network Europe. Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland bishop Juhana Pohjola was tried along with Räsänen; Pohjola was tried as the publisher of the 2004 booklet (see above). At the start of the proceedings, the prosecution asked for a day-fine of at least 120 days for Räsänen, 60 days for Pohjola, and a community fine of at least 10,000

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s for the Luther Foundation. An additional demand from the prosecution was for the Luther Foundation to remove the text of Räsänen's pamphlet from the internet and for the Finnish public broadcasting company

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

to remove certain passages from Ruben Stiller’s radio interview with panelists discussing the question of "What would Jesus think of homosexuals?". Representatives of 45 Lutheran church bodies called on the Finnish government to not prosecute her. She was likewise supported by the European Evangelical Alliance and the Spanish Evangelical Alliance. Five senators from the United States (

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

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Mike Braun Michael Braun (born March 24, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 52nd governor of Indiana since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2019 to 2025 as a United States senator from Indiana and from 2 ...

and

James Inhofe James Mountain Inhofe (; ; November 17, 1934 – July 9, 2024) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 1994 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was the longest serving U.S. senator from Okl ...

) warned the

United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom The United States ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom is the ambassador-at-large of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in the U.S. Department of State. The position was created by the Interna ...

that the decision to prosecute them risked creating a "secular blasphemy law" to prosecute Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Ten academics from the United States signed an open letter to the

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is a U.S. federal government commission created by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. USCIRF commissioners are appointed by the president and the lead ...

stating that the "prosecutions are straightforward acts of oppression". The District Court found her and Pohjola not guilty of all charges and ordered the prosecution to pay their legal costs on 30 March 2022. In response to the ruling, the prosecutor Anu Mantila stated that the

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

"interpreted the statements differently than the prosecution and that's why they viewed that the limits of freedom of speech weren't breached... It's my impression that this is because the elements that infringed on equality and the prohibition of discrimination weren't taken into consideration accordingly." Mantila stated that the verdict was incorrect and unjust and said there was "a high probability" she would appeal it. Later the prosecutor's office publicly announced an intent to appeal, which it did on 29 April 2022. Räsänen estimated that judicial proceedings "will take at least one year, I suppose, perhaps many more years".

Personal life

Räsänen is married to a Lutheran pastor, has five children, and ten grandchildren. She lives in

. Räsänen is a physician and holds a Licentiate of Medicine.

References