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Amid crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to have church weddings from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology was met with a mixed reaction. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have sought to reconcile for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, England's church said sorry for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but remained staunch in the view that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”