Karl Sigurbjörnsson


Karl Sigurbjörnsson is an Icelandic prelate who served as Bishop of Iceland from 1998 to 2012.

Biography

Sigurbjörnsson is the son of Sigurbjörn Einarsson, Bishop of Iceland between 1981 and 1989 and his wife Magneur Thorkelsdóttir. Between 1962 and 1964 he went as an exchange student to Tacoma, Washington in the United States. He graduated from Reykjavík High School in 1967 and graduated in theology from the University of Iceland on January 27, 1973. He was ordained a priest on January 29, 1973. Between 1973 and 1975 he served as parish priest of the Landakirkja in Vestmannaeyjar. On December 6, 1974, he was appointed parish priest of Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík and was installed on January 1, 1975, a post he retained till 1997. Between 1977 and 1978 he served a pastoral ministry in Sweden while between 1988 and 1989 he studied in the United States. On September 6, 1997 he was elected Bishop of Iceland and was consecrated on November 23 of that year. He was granted an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Theology on September 8, 2000.