After 150 years, Norway’s largest Catholic church is finally consecrated

“Every holy Mass, when I look into the church from the altar, I see the whole world in front of me.”

For Dom Alois Brodersen, an Augustinian canon regular and parish priest of St. Paulʼs Catholic Church in Bergen, Norway, those words capture the reality of parish life.

Standing before a congregation representing more than 120 nationalities, he sees the fulfillment of a vision first imagined by the parishʼs founders nearly 150 years ago.

When St. Paulʼs was built in the 1870s, it seated more than 300 people despite serving a Catholic community of only a few dozen faithful. Its founders envisioned the church as a missionary bridgehead for Catholicism in Norway. Years later that vision has been realized.

Today, the parish is home to almost 20,000 Catholics from more than 120 nations.

“Experiencing all these people from all places in the world coming together and working for Christ, their piety and their faithfulness, thatʼs the greatest gift,” Brodersen told EWTN News.

Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo, Norway, presides at the consecration of St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Norway, on June 28, 2026. | Credit: Hoang Van Nguyen

That vision was given fresh significance on…