VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Diocese of Stockholm kept silent for nearly four months about a Vatican decree declaring “invalid” Cardinal Anders Arborelius’ 2024 suspension of a traditionalist priest while failing to provide the financial support required by the decree, according to investigative reporting by Diane Montagna.
“When no response or reaction came from the Cardinal, I was compelled to bring the matter to the attention of the Holy See … with a copy to the Cardinal and the Nuncio. I later also sent the original to Rome. The (Dicastery for) Clergy has confirmed that they received it,” Father Tobias Unnerstål said in a September 3 letter addressed to his benefactors.
Unnerstål had led Christ the King Parish in Gothenburg, Sweden, since 2007. The parish flourished under his traditionalist leadership.
However, his traditional Catholic spirituality subsequently became a point of contention within the local curia. After being accused of “emotional, psychological, and spiritual abuse” and suspended, the priest appealed to Rome. Although the Dicastery for Clergy ultimately found the suspension invalid, the decree imposed separate three-year restrictions on Unnerstål’s ministry. This decree was reportedly withheld by the Stockholm chancery.
A separate appeal is currently pending before the Apostolic Signatura, seeking the removal of a series of pastoral restrictions imposed by the diocese and subsequently upheld by the Dicastery for the Clergy.
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Montagna brought international attention to the case, independently reconstructing and verifying allegations detailed in a dossier produced by a group of lay Catholics from Unnerstål’s diocese to show the “serious irregularities” of the Church in Sweden. The “Thomas More Report,” compiled over the course of two years, is now available in both Swedish and English.
Problems with diocesan authorities began in October 2020 when Cardinal Arborelius and Vicar General Father Pascal-René Lung formally approved, in writing, Unnerstål’s proposal to establish an Oratory modeled on that of St. Philip Neri. The following year, on February 15, a seminarian, Joseph Rizk, filed a complaint against Unnerstål, alleging “emotional, psychological, and spiritual abuse.” On April 22, the Swedish priest was summoned and questioned by the vicar general but was not allowed to see the text of the complaint against him.
On August 7, 2021, however, Unnerstål was contacted by a parishioner who showed him a letter circulated by the then-assistant parish administrator, Birgitta Gelotte. In the letter, Gelotte explained that every effort had to be made to block the traditional Oratory project and that she found in Rizk a useful ally.
“Rumours had begun to spread that Fr. Tobias … wanted to start a (Traditional) Oratory. I knew I had to do everything I could to stop it,” Gelotte wrote.
According to the Thomas More Report, as early as 2019, Gelotte had been telling other clergy members that Unnerstål was an alcoholic and homosexual in an apparent effort to discredit him. Although the search reportedly produced no compromising material concerning Unnerstål, the former parish assistant apparently obtained permission from the diocese to search the parish’s computer servers for compromising photographs. The search yielded only a single photograph of Rizk wearing a T-shirt and swim shorts during a parish trip to Malta.
In mid-August 2021, Unnerstål reportedly showed the letter to the vicar general. Although the latter promised that he would take steps to address Gelotte’s conduct, he ultimately did no more than call her to warn that Unnerstål was in possession of the letter.
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Beginning in 2022, the diocese gradually moved to sideline Unnerstål. In January, he was abruptly removed as pastor of Christ the King parish and reassigned as diocesan coordinator for the Traditional Latin Mass. A few weeks later, on February 24, a confidential decree signed by Arborelius barred him from engaging in pastoral ministry involving minors. Finally, in October of the same year, he was stripped of all regular pastoral responsibilities.
At the same time, Arborelius appointed another Swedish priest, Father Pär-Anders Feltenheim, as the new pastor of Christ the King parish in Gothenburg despite the fact that abusive conduct on his part had previously been substantiated.
The authors of the Thomas More Report and Montagna draw a direct comparison between Unnerstål’s case and that of Feltenheim. Although a formal investigation conducted between 2013 and 2014 found that Feltenheim engaged in inappropriate conduct toward young people, resulting in a prohibition on working with minors, the diocese nevertheless appointed him pastor of Christ the King parish in 2022, replacing Unnerstål.
When further online activities deemed incompatible with priestly ministry and parish leadership came to light in 2025, the Stockholm chancery allowed Feltenheim to leave the parish, publicly describing his departure as “a sabbatical to allow him to recover and regain his strength.” The move was accompanied by public expressions of gratitude from the cardinal.
On November 10, 2024, Arborelius formally suspended Unnerstål by decree. The stated grounds included vague and unspecified “deficiencies in his current pastoral capacity” and, above all, his alleged failure to comply with the prohibition on working with minors and young people that had been imposed on him in February 2022.
On December 10, 2024, Unnerstål filed a lawsuit against the diocese before the Stockholm District Court, alleging wrongful dismissal and seeking both the formal annulment of the termination of his employment and compensation for damages. Faced with the prospect of litigation, the diocese chose, on June 10, 2025, to fully and unreservedly concede both the claims and legal grounds advanced by the priest. The court subsequently entered judgment against the diocese and ordered it to pay damages.
Nevertheless, on July 3, 2025, the diocese discontinued Unnerstål’s salary and publicly stated that his suspension remained in force, mentioning allegations of “emotional abuse” for the first time. Faced with these developments, the former pastor ultimately decided to file a canonical appeal with the Holy See.
On May 5, 2026, the Dicastery for the Clergy issued a decree declaring Unnerstål’s 2024 suspension “invalid” due to serious procedural irregularities and ordered the diocese to provide the priest with the back pay owed to him from July 2025 onward.
At the same time, the dicastery upheld a series of disciplinary and pastoral restrictions on Unnerstål for a period of three years, based on confidential documentation submitted to the Holy See by the Diocese of Stockholm. Among the measures confirmed were a prohibition on celebrating public Mass without the presence of another priest and the suspension of his faculties to hear confessions and to preach.
Consequently, between July and August, Unnerstål appealed the three-year disciplinary restrictions to the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest administrative tribunal. He also reported to Vatican authorities that the diocese had not complied with the financial provisions and notification requirements mandated by the earlier decree.
Although the May 5 Vatican decree was immediately enforceable, the diocesan chancery issued no official communication to either clergy or parishioners for nearly four months. At the same time, the diocese failed to provide the financial support owed to the priest.
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Questioned directly by Montagna between August 27 and September 2, diocesan spokeswoman Kristina Hellner stated that the diocese had considered it “more appropriate” to wait until all avenues of appeal had been exhausted before making the decree public. She further claimed that the diocese did not know “which parts of the (2026) decree” Unnerstål challenged before the Apostolic Signatura.
However, Unnerstål’s appeal to the Apostolic Signatura concerns the three-year restrictions, not the dicastery’s declaration that his 2024 suspension was invalid. In an August 30 letter to Unnerstål, Arborelius himself explicitly acknowledged that the appeal concerned the three-year restrictions, undercutting the chancery’s explanation for withholding the decree from the faithful.
Widely regarded as a doctrinally and morally conservative prelate, Arborelius has consistently defended Catholic teaching on life, sexuality, and the priesthood. He has, however, been among those bishops most willing to implement significant restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass after Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.