After Eight Years – The Pope Stone Is Finally Gone!

After all these years of struggle, dedication and hard work, we have finally reached our goal – the Pope Stone in Gamla Uppsala has been removed! It is a historic victory for us as followers of Asatru and for all who cherish our cultural heritage.

We would like to extend our deepest and warmest thanks to all of you who have supported us in this long journey. A special thank you to the 1,876 people who signed our petition to remove the Pope Stone from the Royal Mound. Your voice has been crucial, and together we have shown that perseverance and unity bring results.

After eight years, the petition is now over and closed – because we have succeeded! The Pope Stone no longer stand, and Gamla Uppsala can once again breathe freely as a place of our heritage and faith.

This victory belongs to us all.
Hail Asatru!
Hail NAS/NAC!

THE PETITION IS CLOSED

The fight for our rights continues.

(Updated 3 April 2018)
Many people have asked what has happened to the so-called pope-stone. As it is not a stone that is authorised to be on the site, it will henceforth be referred to simply as the stone.
The fact that christian churches have had an interest in wiping out our Norse faith and culture is not news. What is news, however, is that it continues even today in the modern era despite the churches’ assurances of reformation and tolerance.
1989 Without permission from the authorities, this square stone was therefore placed on the ancient monument site at Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala), Sweden. A place that could well be called the epicentre of Asatru.
As can be seen from the documents, the stone is only mentioned in the memoranda as a request. This was rejected by the Swedish National Heritage Board and the Cultural Heritage Guardians, who recommend a location outside the ancient monument area.
Obviously, the catholics did not like this and without it being mentioned in the licence for the mass, it was left in the ancient monument area. The licence also states that the site should be cleaned. Which was ignored by leaving a large stone behind.
Nowhere in either the application or the permit is this stone mentioned. It was dumped on the site and is still there today.

As we consider this stone to be a clear violation of cultural heritage and antiquities laws, we in the Nordic Asa-community notified the bishopric on 2018-02-09. Our intention is to remove the stone from the site as it is an ongoing assault by the church to show its victory over the Norse Heathenry. In today’s society where religious freedom is gaining more and more space, we believe that it should apply to us too and the land where the stone is located belongs to the people. Not the catholic church.
However, unsurprisingly, this was dropped by a police officer on 22 February 2018 on the grounds that the offence is time-barred. Although the stone is still in the same place (almost, it has been rotated).
We appealed this to the prosecutor who chose not to change the police decision 2018-03-15.
So the fact is that the stone in place is no longer considered to be breaking the law. Which suggests that it has done so when it was put there. Claiming that it is then time-barred is obviously wrong because it is still there now too. So it is an ongoing offence.
However, it is clear that the stone has no right to be on the site at all, so there appears to be no ‘owner’ of said stone.
If it were to disappear or be destroyed, there should be no criminal offence. A stone cannot bring any action and there is no licence for it. The size at which you have the right to pick up and throw a stone should also not be specified in legal texts.
Of course, we do not encourage illegal behaviour, but clearing an area of rubbish, branches and stones should be a purely civic act. Which we encourage. One of our mottos is to always leave a place in better condition than when we arrived. Rubbish should then be disposed of outside the area or in the designated place.

Nordic Asa-community
2018-04-03

Petition against the Pope's stone 2017-12-08_1

Petition against the Pope's stone 2017-12-08_2

Petition against the Pope’s stone
(petition at the bottom)

On 9 June 1989, the Church of Sweden and Pope John Paul II desecrated one of Sweden’s most important cultural monuments, desecrating and vandalising a site that is important not only to Norse heathens, history enthusiasts and all residents of Sweden, but also to Norse heathens and ordinary people all over the world.

They violated the Swedish Antiquities Act, which had been in force since the time of the swedish king Gustav II Adolf, in a very gross and flagrant way (17th century). The year before the Catholics invaded Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala), and began to vandalise a place that had never been theirs even in the Middle Ages – because even Uppsala Mounds was largely untouched then, and is still a World Class Cultural Heritage Site, which should be protected by UNESCO; the new Cultural Heritage Act (1988:950) was introduced

The law clearly states that you may not alter or disturb an ancient monument, or erect buildings, installations or anything else on it without the permission of the County Administrative Board (§6, 10 and 12 of the Cultural Environment Act).Anyone who does so may be subject to a fine or six months’ imprisonment (§22)

The Pope´s stone stands on state land, not land owned by the church of Sweden, and neither the National Heritage Board (which managed the area before 2014) nor the National Property Board nor the County Administrative Board of Upplands County is aware that any permit has ever been issued for the illegal construction. The Nordic Asa-community has written to all three of these state authorities, but has received no reply as to who issued the permit, when it was issued, and where it is kept. Nor has the catholic church been able to produce a permit for the desecration of one of Sweden’s most important ancient monuments, despite the fact that they are breaking the law. And according to Swedish law, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that Sweden’s cultural environment and our most important ancient monuments are preserved in pristine condition.

This is clearly stated in the ‘portal paragraph’ or §1 of the Cultural Heritage Act, and also in Act 2013:548. What the church of Sweden and the catholics have done, is thus criminal, and should be punished. The oope’s stone is on State land, and within a Protected Area. No catholics or churches own the land. Even if it were on church of Sweden land, this would make no difference, although it might make the offence less serious.

More recently, the inscription on the Pope’s stone has been removed and the stone is now so damaged that it fulfils no function whatsoever on the site, except to be a disturbing, modern feature of the landscape.

The Nordic Asa-community would like to start a petition to have the stone removed, once and for all. Uppsala Mounds is not a good place for christian or catholic services. There is a catholic church in the centre of Uppsala already, and it has all the facilities catholics need, including an indoor courtyard. The church of Sweden has long held the Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala) church and the land around it – so why can’t they respect the ancient monument and the state’s land ownership?

The christians in Sweden must be able to learn to value our heathen cultural heritage, and our most important world-class cultural monuments, without breaking the laws of our country. We are tired of how they constantly discriminate against us, persecute us, call us racists and otherwise destroy and take over the last untouched places, where we Norse haethens can practice our faith without restrictions, which should be a human right, at least as long as we also follow the law – which the christians never did and still do not.

We do not accept that foreign religions that have not been practised in Sweden for at least 400 years are allowed to destroy or forcefully put their mark on one of our country’s most important and finest places of worship, a place that should belong to us norse heathens from all over the world. We do not erect rune stones in St Peter’s Church, for example, nor do Muslims or Jews desecrate and destroy the Uppsala Mounds by building mosques or altars there. Now that the Pope’s stone are not used by christians, and are also illegal, it is natural to demand that they be removed – once and for all