Teemu Sippo

Teemu Jyrki Juhani Sippo, S.C.I. (born 20 May 1947) is a Finnish retired Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Helsinki from 2009 to 2019. He was the first Finnish-born Catholic bishop since Arvid Kurck (1464–1522).

Life
Teemu Sippo was born on 20 May 1947 in Lahti, Finland, into a Lutheran family. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1966. Four years later he decided to start studying to become a priest. He became a professed member of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1970 and entered the seminary at the University of Freiburg. He wrote his Master's thesis on Paul Tillich's principle of Protestantism. His thesis advisor was Karl Lehmann. He was ordained a priest on May 28, 1977.

After that he worked in Helsinki and Jyväskylä. On 16 June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Helsinki, succeeding Josef Wrobel, who had been appointed auxiliary bishop of Lublin. He was consecrated bishop by Karl Cardinal Lehmann on September 5, 2009. His consecration took place in the Turku Cathedral, which is a Lutheran church.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation as bishop on 20 May 2019. Sippo cited health reasons for his early retirement. He had been hospitalized for three months following a fall in December 2018.