bishop of Pyongyang
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pyongyang is a
diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...
of the
Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...
of the
Roman 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 ...
in
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
. Its only official bishop,
Francis Hong Yong-ho Francis Hong Yong-ho (; born 12 October 1906 – death unknown, but acknowledged in June 2013) was a Roman Catholic prelate in North Korea who was imprisoned by the communist regime of Kim Il-sung in 1949 and later disappeared. After his disapp ...
, was imprisoned by the government of the
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
led by
Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
in 1949 and later disappeared. The Archbishop of Seoul acts as the
Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...
for Pyongyang.


History

In 1927, the Pyongyang apostolic prefecture was carved out from the then Diocese of Seoul. The prefecture was entrusted to Maryknoll priests who had worked there since 1923. Monsignor Patrick Byrne, former apostolic delegate to Seoul from 1947 to 1950, became its first apostolic prefect. The prefecture was elevated to apostolic vicariate in 1939 and Bishop William O'Shea became the first apostolic vicar. But Bishop O'Shea was repatriated by Japanese colonialists after the Pacific War broke out in 1941. Archbishop Paul Ro Ki-nam of Seoul, the first Korean bishop in the country, then managed the vicariate as its apostolic administrator until Bishop Francis Hong Yong-ho, the second Korean prelate, became its apostolic vicar in 1943. The population of Pyongyang diocese as of 1943 was 3,650,623, all ethnic Koreans. Bishop Hong was arrested by communists in the North and went missing in 1949. Since the Korean War, the North has not had a resident priest. The vicariate was elevated to a diocese in 1962 when the Korean Church hierarchy was formally established. In 1985, the late Bishop Daniel Tji Hak-soon of Wonju visited Pyongyang to meet his younger sister. It was the first time a prelate in the South visited the communist country since the Korean War. In 1998, then Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Choi Chang-mou of Seoul, now archbishop of Kwangju, visited Pyongyang as a delegate of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, then apostolic administrator of Pyongyang. This was the first pastoral visit to North Korea by a Korean bishop since the Korean War. Bishop Choi, president of Seoul archdiocese's National Reconciliation Committee, celebrated a Mass in the North's only Catholic church, Changchung Church. In June 2002, Bishop Paul Choi Deog-ki of Suwon visited Pyongyang and delivered 2,002 soccer balls. From Sept. 8-10, 2005, Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik of Daejeon, president of the committee for "Caritas Coreana" of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK), visited the capital of North Korea to attend the completion ceremony of a cultivation facility for seed potatoes donated by Caritas Coreana. The (North) Korean Roman Catholics' Association was set up on June 30, 1988. Samuel Chang Jae-on has been its president since its establishment. The association published a catechism and a prayer book in 1991.


Ordinaries


Prefect Apostolic of Hpyeng-yang (Peng-yang)

*
Patrick James Byrne Patrick James Byrne, M.M. (October 26, 1888 – November 25, 1950) was an American-born Catholic missionary and Bishop. As a member of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll), he was assigned for missions in Korea and Japan. ...
(1927–1929) * John Edward Morris (1930–1936) * William R. Booth (1936–1939;
apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...
)


Vicars Apostolic of Heijō (Pyongyang)

*
William O'Shea Captain William Henry O'Shea (1840 – 22 April 1905) was an Irish soldier and Member of Parliament. He is best known for being the ex-husband of Katharine O'Shea, the long-time mistress of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell. ...
(1939–1942) *
Paul Roh Ki-nam Paul Marie Kinam Roh (22 January 1902 – 25 June 1984) was Apostolic Vicar of Seoul in 1940–1962 and then Archbishop for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul in 1962–1967. He was noted as Pro-American and Anti-Communist in the Syngman Rhe ...
(1942–1943; apostolic administrator) *
Francis Hong Yong-ho Francis Hong Yong-ho (; born 12 October 1906 – death unknown, but acknowledged in June 2013) was a Roman Catholic prelate in North Korea who was imprisoned by the communist regime of Kim Il-sung in 1949 and later disappeared. After his disapp ...
(1943–1950, imprisoned 1949; later disappeared, death acknowledged in June 2013) * George Carroll (1950–1962; apostolic administrator)


Bishops of Pyongyang

* George Carroll (1962–1975; apostolic administrator) * Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (1975–1998; apostolic administrator) * Cardinal Nicolas Cheong Jin-Suk (1998–2012; apostolic administrator) * Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (2012–2021; apostolic administrator) *
Peter Chung Soon-taick Peter Chung Soon-taick, (; born 5 August 1961) is a South Korean prelate of the Catholic Church. Since December 2021, he has been the Metropolitan Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang. Biography Early life Chung w ...
(2021–present; apostolic administrator)


References

*http://directory.ucanews.com/dioceses/korea-pyongyang/342 {{coord missing, North Korea
Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...
Christian organizations established in 1927 Roman Catholic dioceses in North Korea Culture in Pyongyang 1927 establishments in Korea Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Seoul