The Most Reverend Tapio Luoma | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Turku and Finland | |
 | |
| Church | Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland |
| Elected | 2018 |
| Installed | 1 June 2018 |
| Predecessor | Kari Mäkinen |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 1 February 2012 by Kari Mäkinen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 June 1962 |
| Nationality | Finnish |
Tapio Juhani Luoma (born 15 June 1962) is a Finnish prelate, who has been the Archbishop of Turku and Finland and Primate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland since 1 June 2018.
Born in Kurikka, Luoma was ordained priest in 1987. He acquired a doctorate in theology in 1999 with his dissertation concerning the relationship between theology and natural sciences. Luoma's dissertation is titled Incarnation and Physics: Natural Science in the Theology of Thomas F. Torrance and is published by Oxford University Press in 2002. [1]
He has worked as a chaplain in Peräseinäjoki between 1987 and 1998, and in Ilmajoki between 1998 and 2002. In 2002 he moved to Seinäjoki as parish priest. He also served as Broadcaster of the Broadcasting Corporation between 1986 and 1987.
On 1 February 2012, he was consecrated as bishop of Espoo by Archbishop Kari Mäkinen and installed as bishop on 12 February in Espoo Cathedral. [2] He was elected as Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland on 1 March 2018, and assumed office in June 2018 upon the retirement of Kari Mäkinen. [3]
Luoma is a published author, having authored four books. [4]
Earlier, Luoma did not support the church's blessing of same-sex unions and regarded marriage as solely between a man and a woman. [5] The decision of the church assembly in May 2018 was also negative towards such unions. [6]
However, Luoma's stance has since changed. [7] He now hopes that the church would allow the blessing of same-sex couples for those priests who wish to perform it. [8] According to Luoma, the change is inevitable. [9] He has also supported a civic initiative banning conversion therapy. [10] He has pointed out that homosexuality has not been considered a sin in the church's official statements for decades. [11]
Luoma has also weighed in on the racism debate. According to him, racism is a sin in the Christian faith because human worth is not determined by mutual agreement among people but is given to individuals as beings created by God. [12]
In October 2023, Luoma criticized the government program of Orpo's administration on his website, particularly emphasizing the elevation of work to excessively high esteem. He also defended the church's right to take a stand on societal issues. [13]
Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland. [14] 
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal position as a national church in the country, along with the Orthodox Church of Finland.
The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The party is currently a participant in the Government of Petteri Orpo, holding seven ministerial portfolios. The party achieved its electoral breakthrough in the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election, when it won 19.1% of votes, becoming the third largest party in the Finnish Parliament. In the 2015 election the party got 17.7% of the votes, making it the parliament's second-largest political party. The party was in opposition for the first 20 years of its existence. In 2015, it joined the coalition government formed by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä. Following a 2017 split, over half of the party's MPs left the parliamentary group and were subsequently expelled from their party membership. This defector group, Blue Reform, continued to support the government coalition, while the Finns Party went into opposition. The party, having been reduced to 17 seats after the split, increased its representation to 39 seats in the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, while Blue Reform failed to win any seats. During the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, the Finns Party finished in second place and recorded their strongest result, 46 seats, since the party's founding.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Finland are among the most advanced in the world. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity have been legal in Finland since 1971 with "promotion" thereof decriminalized and the age of consent equalized in 1999. Homosexuality was declassified as an illness in 1981. Discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas such as employment, the provision of goods and services, etc., was criminalized in 1995 and discrimination based on gender identity in 2005.
The Archdiocese of Turku, historically known as Archdiocese of Åbo, is the seat of the Archbishop of Turku. It is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and its see city is Turku.
Anton Salonen is a child with Russian-Finnish dual citizenship involved in an international child custody dispute between his parents. The Finnish-born child was first abducted by his Estonian Russian mother in 2008 and taken to Russia. In turn the boy was abducted by his father in 2009 and smuggled back to Finland with the help of Finnish diplomats stationed at the Finnish consulate in Saint Petersburg. The incident has sparked a diplomatic row between Finland and Russia. The Finnish diplomat who helped to abduct the child was dismissed from the Finnish Consulate and Russia has declared him persona non grata.
Kari Mäkinen is the former archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. He was elected the 14th Archbishop of Turku and Finland on 11 March 2010, he was installed on 6 June 2010, and he retired on 1 June 2018. His successor, the 15th Archbishop Tapio Luoma was installed on 3 June 2018. His predecessor was Jukka Paarma. Previously Mäkinen served as vicar of Ulvila and since 2006 as Bishop of Turku.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu is an annual music contest organised by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. It made its debut in 2012 as the Finnish selection format for the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing the previous Finnish Eurovision selection Suomen euroviisukarsinta which had been held since 1961.
Ismo Mikael Leikola, sometimes known professionally as ISMO, is a Finnish stand-up comedian, musician, author, screenwriter, and YouTuber. Leikola made his United States debut in 2014, when he won "The Funniest Person in the World" competition organized by the comedy club Laugh Factory. In 2015, he made comedy series ISMO for Finnish television and moved to the United States. He gained more recognition after his appearance on the Conan talk show in 2018 and has since toured internationally. He has a YouTube channel with over 360,000 subscribers.
Metropolitan Elia is the current metropolitan of Oulu of the Finnish Orthodox Church. He was consecrated on 11 January 2015. He follows in this position Metropolitan Panteleimon, who retired in June 2013. His home church is the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Oulu.
Antti Edvard Häkkänen is a Finnish politician from the National Coalition Party. He has served as Minister of Defence since June 2023 in the Orpo cabinet and as Member of Parliament since 2015. Häkkänen served as Minister of Justice in the Sipilä cabinet from 2017 to 2019.
Maria Mikaela Markuntytär Ylipää is a Finnish singer and actress, who has starred in the musical Kristina från Duvemåla and acted in the films Keisarikunta (2004) and Pietà (2007). She has also appeared in the television series Rikospoliisi Maria Kallio (2003), Tappajan näköinen mies (2011) and Luottomies (2016) as well as musical theatres Helsinki City Theatre, Tampere Workers' Theatre, Swedish Theatre, Gothenburg opera house and the Stockholm Cirkus.
Björn Håkan Vikström is a Finnish prelate who served as Bishop of Borgå between 2009 and 2019.
Helsinki light rail line 15 is a 25-kilometre (16 mi) light rail line connecting Keilaniemi in Espoo and Itäkeskus in Helsinki, Finland. Known during construction as Jokeri light rail, construction was started in June 2019 and the line began operating in October 2023, about 10 months ahead of the original schedule. The line replaced the trunk bus line 550, the busiest bus service on the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority public transport network, at the end of 2023.
Naisten Liiga, also called the Naisten SM-liiga (NSML) and Jääkiekon naisten SM-liiga, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982, it was so known until being rebranded as the Naisten Liiga in 2017. The league comprises approximately 250 players across ten teams.
The Katja Riipi Award is an ice hockey trophy, seasonally awarded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association to the best forward of the Naisten Liiga, previously the Naisten SM-sarja. Best forward in the Naisten Liiga was first awarded in the 2005–06 season, to Saara Niemi (née Tuominen). The award was named in honor of Katja Riipi during the 2010–11 season.
The Emma Laaksonen Award is an ice hockey trophy awarded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association to the fair play player of the year of the Naisten Liiga, called the Naisten SM-sarja until 2017. The award recognizes a player who best contributes to the scoring of their team while "playing fair," that is to say, while incurring very few penalties. Winners typically exceed one point per game and are issued fewer than ten penalty minutes (PIM) over a full season. It is named after defenceman Emma Terho, former captain of the Finnish women's national ice hockey team and general manager of Kiekko-Espoo Naiset. Despite being named after a defenceman, it has only ever been awarded to forwards.
Mari Inka-Elina Leppänen is a Finnish theologian and the Bishop to the Archdiocese of Turku, together with the Archbishop Tapio Luoma, in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.
Kalevauva.fi is a Finnish troubadour group band from Helsinki, singing in Finnish. The band has become famous for its songs published through the Internet, with lyrics gathered from the discussion forums of the Finnish Vauva magazine, other online discussion forums and social media.
Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Mestis, where they have won one championship (2022–23), and the women's team plays in the Naisten Liiga. Kiekko-Espoo's junior teams play at national league levels in U16, U18 and U20 juniors. The junior teams of Espoo Blues and Kiekko-Espoo played under Kiekko-Espoo Juniorit ry until 2014. Kiekko-Espoo will participate in the SM-liiga for the 2024–25 season.
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