The fraud trial against the Bishop of Oslo, monsignor Bernt Eidsvig, has been dismissed: the official notice was issued yesterday at a press conference by Lisa Wade, administration officer, who also said that a new fraud trial f has been opened against the bursar, Pham Cong Thuan, and that the diocese has been fined to pay 1 million kroner. The case was prompted by the charge of having recorded more Catholics for 2011-2014 than the actual residents and having to refund the State for the subsidy (originally estimated ay about 4 million euros) paid to the Catholic community based on an allegedly hyped number. “We think we have never done anything illegal and have never received too much money. We have always admitted we have made mistakes” in our recording practice, repeated Wade yesterday, a practice that has been corrected in the meantime. “We are glad we can focus again on what we are here for, that is, being a Church for our devotees, which means at least 140 thousand Catholics of 120 different nationalities”, stated Bishop Eidsvig, who added: “My thoughts are however with my assistant and his family. The diocese will support him in every possible way”. According to statistics announced yesterday, in the last four years, the number of Catholic devotees in Norway has increased by 42%. Currently, the registers speak of 124,985 official Catholics, but, according to the diocese, the real number is supposed to be much higher.