Roman Catholic Church in Korea

The Roman Catholic Church in Korea is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church .

Although the country has been divided into North and South Korea since 1945 and the religious relationships in the two states are very different, Korea is still viewed as one country by the Vatican. Parts of the Archdiocese of Seoul are located in North Korea. The Diocese of Pyongyang and the Diocese of Hamhŭng , both in North Korea, are administered by South Korean bishops as apostolic administrators .

History until 1945

The Catholicism in the 17th century about Korean diplomats and contacts with Jesuits introduced in China in Korea. Peter Seung Hoon Lee (1756–1801) played a major role in spreading the religion in Korea. The Christian faith first spread through lay people without the support of priests. Only in 1794 was Pope Pius VI. the first bishop Peter Grammont was sent to Korea as an underground bishop . The believers were persecuted until the middle of the 19th century; the persecution of Christians counts around 10,000 martyrs. In 1863 the number of Catholic Christians in Korea was only 23,000. From 1909 onwards, the Benedictines of St. Ottilien , including Bonifatius Sauer , and the monasteries they founded , made a major contribution to the expansion and rooting of the Christian faith in Korea .

North Korea

North Korea is officially an atheist state and has no diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The Catholic dioceses still exist, but they have practically no employees. There is also Tokwon Abbey , the only territorial abbey outside Europe. The Korean Catholic Association (KCA) of the North Korean government has administered around 3,000 Catholics since 1988.

South Korea

The Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing founded a monastery near Daegu in 1951. The architect Alwin Schmid (1904–1978), a pupil of Rudolf Schwarz and Hans skull , Benedictines from Münsterschwarzach , shaped church building in South Korea. He created 185 churches, chapels, monasteries and spiritual centers.

In 1984 Pope John Paul II visited South Korea. A German-speaking community has existed in Seoul since 1986. In 1996 the Roman Catholic Church in South Korea had over 3.5 million members; In 2015 there were already 5.65 million, which corresponds to around 11% of the population. In 2014 Pope Francis was the second Pope to visit the Catholics in South Korea on the occasion of the 6th Asian Youth Day .

Chairman of the Korean Bishops 'Conference (Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea - CBCK) is Hyginus Kim Hee-jong , the Archbishop of Gwangju . Apostolic Nuncio has been the former personal secretary of Popes Benedict XVI since February 26, 2018. and Francis, Archbishop Alfred Xuereb .

Location of the dioceses

Dioceses

• Archdiocese of Gwangju
  • Diocese of Cheju
  • Diocese of Jeonju
• Archdiocese of Seoul
  • Diocese of Chuncheon
  • Diocese of Hamhŭng
  • Bishopric of Incheon
  • Diocese of Pyongyang
  • Diocese of Suwon
  • Diocese of Daejeon
  • Diocese of Wonju
  • Diocese of Uijongbu
• Archdiocese of Daegu
  • Diocese of Andong
  • Diocese of Cheongju
  • Diocese of Masan
  • Diocese of Pusan
• Immediate
  • Tokwon Territorial Abbey
  • Korean Military Ordinary

See also

• List of Roman Catholic Dioceses

literature

• Malte Rhinow: A Brief Korean Church History to 1910 . Lit, Berlin 2013. ISBN 978-3-643-90247-4 , pp. 45–108: History of the Roman Catholic Church in Korea until 1910 .

Web links

• Entry about the Catholic Church in Korea on catholic-hierarchy.org (English)
• Website of the Bishops' Conference in South Korea (CBCK) (Korean / English)
• Catholic Korea

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Daegu Priory ( Memento of the original from June 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Jung-Shin Kim: Church architect Alwin Schmid . EOS-Verlag, Sankt Ottilien 2016, ISBN 978-3-8306-7805-2 .
3. ↑ Cyrill Schäfer: Le père Alwin Schmid (1904–1978), pionnier de la construction d'églises modern en Corée . In: Alliance Inter-Monastères: Bulletin de l'AIM , ISSN  1779-4811 , vol. 2019, no. 116, pp. 54–60, here p. 58.
4. ↑ Malte Rhinow: The Churches of South Korea ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 95 kB). Retrieved May 9, 2013. 
5. ^ Catholic News Agency: Information Service, April 6, 2016.