Preses (Church of Norway)

The Preses of the Church of Norway is a titular bishop who leads the Bishops' Conference of the church as one who is primus inter pares (first, among equals). The name comes from the Latin word Praeses which means "placed before" or "at the head".^[1] In 2011, the office of Preses was changed by law to be a 12th permanent bishopric within the Church of Norway. Prior to 2011, it was an elected position from within the 11 diocesan bishops that made up the Bishops' Conference of the Church of Norway.

The first permanent Preses was Helga Haugland Byfuglien who was appointed to the position on 25 March 2011 by the Cabinet of Norway, and she officially took over on 2 October 2011 at the next meeting of the Bishops' Conference. She retired in 2020 and was replaced by Olav Fykse Tveit.^{[citation needed]} The Preses is a bishop, but is the only bishop in the Church of Norway who does not oversee a diocese. Rather, this bishopric primarily oversees the work of the Bishops' Conference and the duties assigned to it by the conference. The Preses is based at the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, along with the Bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros. The Preses is also the dean of the Nidaros domprosti (deanery) in central Trondheim.^[2]