The dean of seminarians at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore is “going home” to become coadjutor and future bishop of Oslo, Norway.
Msgr. Fredrik Hansen, a Sulpician, also serves as assistant professor of pastoral studies at St. Mary’s Seminary. He said he’s excited to return home and that his time in Baltimore has served him well.
“It’s always exciting to be going home, but especially exciting to be serving in one’s homeland,” Bishop-designate Hansen said.
Bishop-designate Hansen learned that Pope Francis had made the appointment when he received a phone call from the apostolic nuncio of the Nordic countries, Msgr. Julio Murat, while Bishop-designate Hansen was in the middle of training a class of future permanent deacons at St. Mary’s Seminary.
In Oslo, Bishop-designate Hansen will work alongside Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, 71, who has led the diocese since 2005. As coadjutor bishop, Bishop-designate Hansen will automatically succeed Bishop Eidsvig when he retires. No date for his episcopal ordination has yet been set, Bishop-designate Hansen said.
Sulpician Father Daniel F. Moore, provincial superior of the U.S. province of the Society of St. Sulpice, announced Bishop-designate Hansen’s appointment by Pope Francis in a Nov. 1 media release by the Sulpicians.
“It is with mixed emotions that I make this announcement, as it will mean losing a cherished colleague in priestly formation,” Father Moore said in the release. “However, the U.S. Province is honored to know that one of our confreres has been chosen to serve as a bishop in his home diocese. I wish Bishop-elect Hansen every blessing in his forthcoming ministry.”
The Sulpicians are a society of apostolic life, composed of diocesan priests who serve as educators of seminarians and priests.
In addition to his native Norwegian, the 45-year-old Bishop-designate Hansen is fluent in English, German, Italian and Spanish. Those language skills will serve him well in a Catholic diocese that he said is expanding significantly with immigrants from Poland, the Philippines, Africa, Latin America and Sri Lanka.
“The diocese, although smaller, is quite similar to Baltimore with a multitude of cultures and languages,” said Bishop-designate Hansen, who noted the delight he took in celebrating Masses in Spanish on weekends at three Maryland parishes, Sacred Heart in Glyndon, St. Rose of Lima in Brooklyn and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Edgewater.
He also said his work in Baltimore teaching future priests and deacons will be of great benefit.
“To be able to be a part of formation is very important,” he said. “That will play a big role in my first duties. It’s also been helpful to have a chance to assist in parishes because that pastoral experience will come in handy.”
He looks forward to reuniting with his mother, Brita, and sister, Ann-Kristin, in his hometown of Drammen, a port city with a population of just more than 100,000 in southeastern Norway.
He said he cherishes his time in the United States.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” he said. “They greeted me with open arms in Baltimore, and I’m very thankful for the experience.”
At St. Mary’s, he taught courses on canon law, ecclesiology, the diplomatic corps and Hispanic ministry.
Bishop-designate Hansen, a veteran of the Holy See’s diplomatic corps, has been a member of the St. Mary’s faculty since 2022, the same year he became a Sulpician.
“My familiarity with the world Church will be helpful,” he said. Bishop-designate Hansen is scheduled to fly to Norway Nov. 4.
He holds degrees from the University of Oslo; Heythrop College, University of London; Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium; and Pontifical Gregorian University.
Ordained to the priesthood in 2007 for the Diocese of Oslo, Bishop-designate Hansen has served as private secretary to the bishop of Oslo, secretary to the Norwegian Council of Catholic Bishops and ecclesiastical judge in the tribunal in Oslo. During his time in Rome, he was vice rector at the Pontifical Teutonic Institute Santa Maria dell’Anima and studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.
Prior to coming to St. Mary’s, Bishop-designate Hansen served in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See, at the nunciature in Honduras (2013-2015), at the Vatican’s mission to the United Nations in Vienna (2015-2019) and its mission to the United Nations in New York (2019-2022).
