'Møre' is a
diocese in the
Church of Norway which geographically consists of
Møre og Romsdal county,
Norway, and has its
bishop residing, and
cathedral located, in the county administrative center,
Molde. The diocese was established in
1983, when
Sunnmøre was transferred from
Bjørgvin bishopric in the south, and
Romsdal and
Nordmøre from
Nidaros bishopric in the north to form the new one.
As of 2005, the bishop of Møre is
Odd Bondevik.
The diocese's name ''Møre'' is the result of a compromise between county's three landscapes.
Sunnmøre, with almost half of the population, would accept that the bishop be located in the geographical center of the diocese,
Molde in
Romsdal, if that region's name (Romsdal) be excluded from the name of the diocese.
The name of the the corresponding county was ''Møre
fylke'' in the period 1919-1935, and ''Romsdal
amt'' from 1660-1919. However, the name is old (
Norse ''Mœrr''), and it is probably derived from the word ''marr'' m 'ocean, sea'. The meaning is then 'coastal district'. (A coastal district in Sweden has the same name:
Möre.)
The ambiguous designation ''møring''—"person from Møre"—is used strictly about people from Nordmøre or Sunnmøre, excluding the people from Romsdal (while, consequently, ''romsdaling''—"person from Romsdal"— is used about the latter).