Fact check: Has Finland’s first Catholic school opened?

Claims circulating widely on social media that Finland’s first Catholic school will open this month, or that it is already operational, are inaccurate.

The Helsinki Catholic School, which was scheduled to begin operations in August, has postponed its opening until next year, according to Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki.

The planned school gained attention after the Helsinki Diocese announced the project in its diocesan magazine last November. By the time of the announcement, groundwork was already underway, with fundraising efforts and the necessary administrative and bureaucratic processes being pursued.

Once completed, the school would be the first Catholic school in Finland in roughly 500 years, following the near disappearance of Catholic institutional life in the country after the Reformation and the adoption of Lutheranism as Finland’s state religion in the 16th century.

Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki, Finland. | Credit: Amira Abuzeid/EWTN News

The school’s planned model Goyarrola previously described the project to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, as an important step in rebuilding Catholic educational life in Finland.

He…