The Church of Norway is planning to offer a formal public apology to the LGBTQ+ community during a special ceremony scheduled for October 16 in Oslo. This apology is intended to acknowledge the decades of exclusion, pain, and shame that the Church’s attitudes and actions inflicted upon LGBTQ+ people. The event will involve an official statement from the Church’s highest authorities, followed by a solemn evening mass at Oslo Cathedral, symbolizing an official reconciliation between the Church and the LGBTQ+ community. This builds on the earlier steps, like the 2016 decision to allow same-sex marriage. Since then, the Church of Norway has been committed to focusing on combating discrimination and on focusing on all people’s human rights regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, both in Norway and around the world.
