Editing Church of Sweden (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
{{See also|History of Sweden (800–1521)}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:right; margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;"
|+ Church of Sweden statistics<ref name="svenskakyrkan-statistics" /><ref name="svenskakyrkan 1972-2018">[https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/filer/0d0ce00b-73c7-4a68-bf1e-cc8d9db5b260.pdf PDFMedlemmar i Svenska kyrkan i förhållande till folkmängd 31 december 2020 per församling, kommun och län samt riket] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421205705/https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/filer/0d0ce00b-73c7-4a68-bf1e-cc8d9db5b260.pdf |date=21 April 2021 }} Svenska kyrkan</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Medlemsutveckling 2020–2021, per församling, pastorat och stift samt riket |url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/filer/1374643/MedlemsutvecklingSKP(1).pdf?id=2398410 |access-date=21 September 2022 |website=www.svenskakyrkan.se |language=sv |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706222718/https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/filer/1374643/MedlemsutvecklingSKP(1).pdf?id=2398410 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
! Year
! Population
! Church members
! Percentage
! % change (avg.)
|-
| 1972 || 8,146,000 || 7,754,784 || 95.2% ||
|-
| 1975 || 8,208,000 || 7,770,881 || 94.7% || 0.2%{{increase}}
|-
| 1980 || 8,278,000 || 7,690,636 || 92.9% || 0.3% {{decrease}}
|-
| 1985 || 8,358,000 || 7,629,763 || 91.5% || 0.3% {{decrease}}
|-
| 1990 || 8,573,000 || 7,630,350 || 89.0% || 0.5% {{decrease}}
|-
| 1995 || 8,837,000 || 7,601,194 || 86.0% || 0.6% {{decrease}}
|-
| 2000 || 8,880,000 || 7,360,825 || 82.9% || 0.6% {{decrease}}
|-
| 2005 || 9,048,000 || 6,967,498 || 77.0% || 1.2% {{decrease}}
|-
| 2010 || 9,415,570 || 6,589,769 || 70.0% || 1.4% {{decrease}}
|-
| 2015 || 9,850,452 || 6,225,091 || 63.2% || 1.4% {{decrease}}
|-
| 2020 || 10,379,295 || 5,728,746 || 55.2% || 1.6% {{decrease}}

|-
| 2021 || 10,452,326 || 5,633,867 || 53.9% || 1.3% {{decrease}}
|-
| 2022 || 10,536,649 || 5,563,351 || 52.8% || 1.1% {{decrease}}
|-
| '''2023''' ||  || '''5 484 319''' || '''52.1%''' || '''0.8%''' {{decrease}}
|}
While some Swedish areas had Christian minorities in the 9th century, Sweden was, because of its geographical location in northernmost [[Europe]], not [[Christianization|Christianized]] until around AD 1000, around the same time as the other [[Nordic countries]], when the Swedish King [[Olof Skötkonung|Olof]] was baptized. This left only a modest gap between the Christianization of Scandinavia and the [[East-West Schism|Great Schism]], however there are some Scandinavian/Swedish saints who are venerated eagerly by many [[Orthodoxy#Christianity|Orthodox Christian]]s, such as [[Olaf II of Norway|St. Olaf]]. However, [[Norse paganism]] and other pre-Christian religious systems survived in the territory of what is now Sweden later than that; for instance the important religious center known as the [[Temple at Uppsala]] at [[Gamla Uppsala]] was evidently still in use in the late 11th century, while there was little effort to introduce the [[Sámi people|Sámi]] of [[Lapland, Sweden|Lapland]] to Christianity until considerably after that.

The Christian church in Scandinavia was originally governed by the [[archdiocese of Bremen]]. In 1104, an archbishop for all Scandinavia was installed in [[Diocese of Lund|Lund]]. Uppsala was made [[Archbishop of Uppsala|Sweden's archdiocese]] in 1164, and remains so today. The papal diplomat [[William of Modena]] attended a church meeting in [[Skänninge]] in March 1248, where the ties to the Catholic Church were strengthened.

The most cherished national Catholic [[saint]]s were the 12th-century King [[Eric IX of Sweden|Eric the Saint]] and the 14th-century [[visionary]] [[Bridget of Sweden|Bridget]], but other regional heroes also had a local cult following, including [[Saint Botvid]] and [[Saint Eskil]] in [[Södermanland]], Saint [[Helena of Skövde]],<ref>[http://saints.sqpn.com/sainth13.htm Saint Helen of Skofde] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014043258/http://saints.sqpn.com/sainth13.htm |date=14 October 2008 }} Patron Saints Index</ref> and Saint [[Sigfrid of Sweden|Sigfrid]] in [[Småland]]. In their names, [[miracle]]s were performed and churches were named.