Rachmaninov · Prelude in C-sharp minor
Uploaded 2018 · Artisten, Gothenburg
Open on YouTubeCATHOLIC ORGANISER · SWEDEN
Max-Martin
Skalenius
+AMDG+ I've dedicated my life to faith, youth, and Europe. Rooted in the Catholic faith, I've founded several organisations & popular events, and continue to work for restoring traditional Scandinavian culture and the beauty of Western civilisation.
Contributor to The European Conservative
FAITH, CULTURE & THE HUMAN PERSON
Get to know me.
My Catholic faith is at the heart of my life and work. Inspired by the saints and the many great people around me. One of them my grandfather, a great Christian patriot who fought communism and nazism, saving many Jews and for that being put in a camp, I aim to follow his example and also those of great saints like Maximilian Kolbe and Erik den Helige. The traditional Latin Mass, prayer and a traditional understanding of family shape what I hope to pass on. Through pilgrimage and church youth work, I have sought to make that faith a shared, lived experience, rooted in worship, honor and responsibility.
I am also pursuing studies in psychology. Music, art and history remain close companions: from my years at the piano and my love of Chopin to time spent in Rome, or collecting antique art. They invite me to look more closely at the lives and ideas that have shaped Europe.
Writing
All articlesEssays in The European Conservative. *Since the closure of The European Conservative some links might not be reached right now
Projects & initiatives
A closer look at the work. Open a project to explore.
Sweden to Chartres
I established the Swedish chapter in 2017, beginning with eight pilgrims, and continue to lead Sankt Erik’s chapter. The annual Pentecost pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres brings together prayer, friendship and the traditional Latin Mass. My work combines the practical preparation of the journey with helping pilgrims become part of a shared Catholic experience.
Discover the chapter
The Arild pilgrimage
The summer pilgrimage follows the coast from Helsingborg to Arild, bringing young adults and families into Sweden’s Catholic landscape. My contribution has included the website, the pilgrimage booklet’s prayers and songs, and practical advice for walkers. These details help give a shared journey its character and make newcomers feel prepared.
Helige Eriks Legion
I co-founded Helige Eriks Legion in 2015. Discover the story, liturgy and shared Catholic life behind the association below.
Explore the Legion
Catholic youth work
I served as national board secretary of Sveriges Unga Katoliker in 2017–2018 and later in its national working group in 2022–2023. I also worked in parish youth ministry in Gothenburg. These earlier responsibilities inform my continuing interest in building communities where young Catholics can meet, take responsibility and practise their faith.
SUK’s annual meeting archiveA FLAGSHIP PROJECT · PARIS TO CHARTRES
From Sweden
to Chartres.
A Catholic pilgrimage, taking root in the North.
2017Founded with eight pilgrims
HundredsSwedish pilgrims in 2025
I established the Swedish chapter of the Paris–Chartres pilgrimage in 2017. We began as eight pilgrims and are now hundreds. I continue to lead the Sankt Erik chapter. From a country shaped by Lutheran history and a strongly secular public culture, a growing group has set out each Pentecost to walk, pray and take part in the traditional Latin Mass.
By 2025, the Swedish chapter brought together around a hundred pilgrims. Alongside fellow pilgrims from Scandinavia and beyond, they share a journey in which Catholic faith, friendship and the experience of walking together become inseparable.
CO-FOUNDER · SWEDISH CATHOLIC HERITAGE
Helige Eriks
Legion.
Sweden’s Catholic inheritance, lived together.
2016Co-founded
FaithLiturgy, pilgrimage & friendship
I co-founded Helige Eriks Legion to help bring Sweden’s Catholic inheritance into daily life. Named for Saint Eric, the association brings together the traditional Latin Mass, pilgrimage, prayer and the rediscovery of Swedish saints and customs.
For me, tradition finds its meaning in shared worship, spiritual friendship and the care we take in passing on the faith. HEL is a non-political brotherhood for Catholic men; its public activities welcome women and men of all ages.
CO-FOUNDER · YOUNG CARITAS
Charity &
volunteering.
Faith put into practice, together with young volunteers.
I co-founded Young Caritas in West Sweden, giving young people a way to serve others through the Catholic Church’s charitable work. Caritas Sweden is the Church’s organisation for charity and social care; Young Caritas lets young volunteers take an active part in it.
Volunteering has shown me what a committed team can achieve: welcoming people, organising activities and caring for those in need. For me, it is where faith becomes concrete, in service and friendship.
SKI SUITS & ALPINE STYLE
Arctic Heights AB
An alpine project with a Nordic perspective.
A little side project. I founded Arctic Heights AB, a company shaped by an interest in timeless alpine design. My aim is to bring the same care for proportion, character and lasting style to skiwear that I value in music, art and architecture.
Business introductionsPOLITICS & PUBLIC LIFE
Political background
My involvement in Swedish politics began when I was young. That experience remains part of my path into organizing. Faith, family, cultural inheritance and the future of Europe are central to my conservative outlook. I became the youngest person ever to be proposed a seat in the municipality of Gothenburg, for the Christian Democrats (KD). But followed my conscience and moved on to the Sweden Democrats (SD) which better supported my conservative views. Today, my work centres less on party politics and more on meta-politics through writing, organising and the cultural and spiritual life of the Nordic countries, with an interest in how ideas take shape in our communities and institutions.
I stand firmly in the belief that extreme and godless ideologies such as communism and Nazism have no part in our society, while at the same time following the Catholic way of politics that also demands that we care for our Homeland, people, nature, sick, and poor.
My writings on faith & societyWith Alexander Christiansson (SD) in the European Parliament
Leader of Swedish Democrats Jimmie Åkesson and Jan Emanuel Johansson (S) during Åkesson's birthday
With Gudrun Schyman (FI) in SVT studios, former leader of V
CULTURE · CLASSICAL, JAZZ & SACRED MUSIC
Caring for culture & arts
Culture is part of the inheritance we pass on. I care especially for classical music, jazz and sacred music, and together with my family I try to support initiatives that keep this heritage alive: concerts, musicians and the places where music is made and heard.
I've led and support choir and music initiatives. And one of my greatest honors was in 2022 when we helped arrange a concert with the legendary jazz bassist and composer Georg Riedel (1934–2024), known for Jazz på svenska with Jan Johansson and for the music of Astrid Lindgren’s films. Riedel stayed at our house during his visit, and composed his last music there, a great honour that I remember with gratitude.
Propose a cultural initiative
FORMER CONCERT PIANIST
At the piano.
My years as a pianist remain a great part of who I am. These two archive recordings from Artisten in Gothenburg offer a glimpse of that earlier work.
Fibich · Poem
Live at Artisten · 15 March 2012
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CORRESPONDENCE & COLLABORATION
Contact & enquiries.
For editorial enquiries, invitations, business introductions and shared projects.
IDEAS & CONVERSATIONS
On X / Twitter.
Shorter reflections on faith, culture and public life.
@MSkalenius