Swedish pastor fined for fingering figs

The pastor showed remorse as the sentence was passed down, local newspaper Smålandsposten reports.

“Of course I regret my actions,” the pastor said.

The owner of the shop in Småland in southern Sweden was able to witness the light-fingered pastor at work on a surveillance monitor.

He initially did not intend to report the pastor and instead came to an agreement that she would pay for the jar of figs and for other items stolen from the store, to a value of 1,500 kronor.

But the rumours began to circulate around the small Kronoberg community and even found the ear of the senior pastor in the parish and the bishop of the diocese.

The church officials subsequently urged the merciful shopkeeper to report the matter to the police.

The pastor explained that her actions were compulsive obsessive and admitted to suffering from kleptomania, regretting that her anxiety expressed itself in such a way.

“I can only hope that people understand that God is greater than our human imperfections,” the pastor told the newspaper.