The Apostolic Nunciature to Korea ( la, Nuntiatura Apostolica in Corea, ko, 주한 교황청 대사관) is an ecclesiastical office of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. It is a diplomatic post of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio with the rank of an ambassador. The nuncio resides in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. The Holy See consistently refers to Korea when making appointments, never South Korea or North Korea. The Holy See has no relationship with the government of North Korea; in 2018, North Korean leader

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...

's invitation to Pope Francis to visit North Korea was relayed through South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The Internunciature to Korea was created on 11 December 1963. and made the Nunciature to Korea on 5 September 1966.

List of papal representatives to Korea

;Apostolic Delegates *Patrick James Byrne (7 April 1949 – 25 November 1950) *Egano Righi-Lambertini (28 December 1957 – 9 July 1960) *Saverio Zupi (26 October 1960 – 31 January 1962) *Antonio del Giudice (18 April 1962 – 19 August 1967) ;Apostolic Pro-Nuncios *Ippolito Rotoli (2 September 1967 – 15 November 1972) *Luigi Dossena (27 February 1973 – 24 October 1978) *Luciano Angeloni (25 November 1978 – 21 August 1982) *Francesco Monterisi (24 December 1982 – 20 June 1987) ;Apostolic Nuncios *Ivan Dias (20 June 1987 – 28 October 1991) *John Bulaitis (30 November 1991 – 25 March 1997) *Giovanni Battista Morandini (23 April 1997 – 6 March 2004) *Emil Paul Tscherrig (22 May 2004 – 26 January 2008) *Osvaldo Padilla (12 April 2008 – 15 September 2017) *Alfred Xuereb (26 February 2018 – present)

References

{{Diplomatic missions in South Korea, state=collapsed Diplomatic missions of the Holy See, Korea Apostolic Nuncios to South Korea, Holy See–South Korea relations Jongno District

List of papal representatives to Korea

See also

References