1.3 billion to the Church of Norway

The background for the transfer of funds to the Church of Norway (Dnk) is the Storting's decision in 2020 that the church shall receive vicarages and other property of particular ecclesiastical importance transferred from the Norwegian Church Endowment Fund (OVF). The Storting simultaneously decided that funds from OVF for the operation and maintenance of the properties should accompany the transfer. In recent years, Dnk and OVF have discussed which properties this applies to, and the final decision on which properties are to be transferred was made by the Government. Dnk and the Government then agreed on the size of the amount to accompany the transfer. This is based, among other things, on a technical condition report covering all the vicarages.

The Division Project

“OVF is pleased that the church and the state have now reached an agreement on the size of the amount the church will receive,” says Director Ole-Wilhelm Meyer in a comment. “We now look forward to completing the Division Project, both through the actual transfer of the properties and the transfer of the funds that are to accompany them. I expect the first vicarages to be transferred to the church during the course of the year.”

The Church's Own Property Company

The properties and funds will be transferred to the church's own property company, Dnk eiendom AS. The Storting has stipulated that the financial compensation must be kept completely separate from the church's other finances.