Vatican appoints Cardinal Yoo Heung-sik as Archbishop… 4th in the history of Catholicism in Korea

[이데일리 박철근 기자] Archbishop Yoo Heung-sik Lazarus (70, photo) has been officially appointed as a cardinal. It is the fourth in the history of Catholicism in Korea, following Kim Soo-hwan Stefano, Jeong Jin-seok Nikolao, and Yeom Su-jeong Andrea.

Pope Francis announced the 21 new cardinals at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on the 29th (local time), including Archbishop Judas, Minister of the Holy See. It has been about 11 months since he was appointed Vatican Minister. The inauguration ceremony of the new Cardinal Yu is scheduled to be held on August 27.

Archbishop Yoo Heung-shik, Minister of the Congregation for the Priesthood of the Holy See, casts an overseas ballot for the 20th presidential election at a polling place at the Korean Embassy in Italy on February 26 (local time). (Photo = Yonhap News)

In particular, unlike all those who had been appointed as cardinals in the past were from the Archdiocese of Seoul, this time, a former minister of the Holy See was appointed as a cardinal. There is also an analysis that the status of Catholicism in Korea will rise further. Cardinal Yu was born in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do in 1951. After graduating from the Department of Dogmatic Theology at Laterano University in Rome, Italy in 1979, he was ordained a priest there. Afterwards, he served as chief aide in Daeheung-dong, Daejeon, director of Solmoe Holy Land retreat, director of Daejeon Catholic Education Center, director of pastoral care in Daejeon Diocese, professor and president of Daejeon Catholic University, and was ordained a bishop in 2003. Since 2005, he has served as the diocesan bishop of Daejeon, and in June of this year, he was appointed Minister of the Holy See of the Holy See, who oversees the duties and lives of priests and deacons around the world.

The Pontifical Minister for the Clergy is a high-ranking member of the Vatican at a higher level than the Vice-Secretary of the Holy See, and it was the first time in the history of Catholicism in Korea that a new Cardinal Yu was appointed as the minister.

The new Cardinal Yoo is considered one of the few Korean clergy who communicate very closely with Pope Francis. Pope Francis’ visit to Korea in August 2014 was also reported to have been triggered by a letter from the new Cardinal Yu, asking him to attend the Asian Youth Day, which was scheduled to be held at Solmoe Holy Land in Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do.

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Cardinals are the highest and highest advisor to the Pope under canon law.