Bishop of Iceland has no administrative duties until a new bishop has been elected
Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir, the bishop of Iceland will serve until Whitsunday 2024 but will not be responsible for any administrative tasks of the office. mbl.is/Ómar Óskarsson
The inaugural bishops of Skálholt (Kristján Björnsson) and Hólar (Gísli Gunnarsson) have now taken over the administrative tasks that the bishop of Iceland has. They will be responsible for these administrative tasks until the new bishop has taken office, so that their legitimacy of their decions are not subject to doubt.
The inaugural bishops will share tasks at a meeting tomorrow.
The decision of the church assembly
The last parliamentary session in late October approved that the inaugural bishops that come second in rank to the bishop of Iceland, should take all administrative decisions of the bishops’ office until the new bishop has taken office.
The final meeting of the church assembly for the years 2022 and 2023 was in Háteigskirkja church in Reykjavík October 27 2023. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
In the statute, it is stated that as the court of the courts, Mrs. Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir will be in charge of the bishop's services in the national church until the 2024 Whitsunday. This means that she will be responsible for the Christianity, the teaching of the church and its ministry in the country, as well as the care of the church's units according to the existing laws on the national church. "The church parliament declares its full support for the bishop's all these important work," it adds.
Approved by 21 votes to two
This was a joint proposal by Óskar Magnússon, the parliamentary representative, and Bryndís Malla Elídóttur, the parliamentary prosecutor, and was approved by 21 votes to two, but two bills were blank in a written vote. Furthermore, it was agreed that only one debate would take place on the matter, but such proposals are usually debated in two debates. The result is thus final. There are 29 parliamentary representatives.
In this way, the church parliament responds to the ruling of the National Church's ruling committee that Bishop Sigurðardóttir has been deprived of the authority to take administrative decisions on behalf of the church after the end of her term of office on June 30 2022.
The proposal was a compromise after a surprise suggestion emerged in Parliament that the Bishop should continue to do his job as if nothing had happened, despite a ruling that he was not authorized.
