Roman Catholicism in South Korea

The Roman Catholic Church in South Korea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

The history of Catholicism (and arguably that of Christianity as a whole) in Korea is held to have begun in 1784 when Lee Seung-hoon was baptised while in China under Christian name of Peter. He returned home with various religious texts and baptised his fellow countrymen. For almost 15 years, the Church in Korea survived without any formal missionary priests until the clergy from China and then France arrived for the ministry.

During 19th century, Catholic Church suffered persecution by the government of Joseon dynasty, chiefly for the religion's refusal to carry out the ancestoral worship, which it perceived to be a form of false idol, but which the State prescribed as a cornerstone of culture. Despite the century-long persecution that produced thousands of martyrs-103 of whom were canonised in 1984-the Church expanded. The Apostolic Vicariate of Korea was formed in 1831, and after the expansion of Church structure for next century, the current structure of 3 Metropolitan Provinces each with an Archdiocese and several suffragen Dioceses was established in 1962.

There are over 5.1 million Catholics in South Korea - over 10% the population. South Korea (and by extension the Catholic Church in all Korea, north and south) has the fourth largest number of saints in the Roman Catholic Church (since 1984) by nation. There are 15 dioceses including three archdioceses of Seoul, Taegu and Gwangju, and the military ordiniate. North Korean Catholic Church is ecclesiastically united with South Korea, composed of two dioceses of Pyongyang and Hamheung (suffragen to the Metropolitan of Seoul) and the only territorial abbey outside Europe, that of Dokwon.

Roman Catholic Dioceses in Korea

Metropolitan Province of Seoul

* Archdiocese of Seoul
* Diocese of Chuncheon
* Diocese of Incheon
* Diocese of Suwon
* Diocese of Daejeon
* Diocese of Uijeongbu
* Diocese of Wonju

Metropolitan Province of Daegu

* Archdiocese of Daegu
* Diocese of Andong
* Diocese of Cheongju
* Diocese of Masan
* Diocese of Busan

Metropolitan Province of Gwangju

* Archdiocese of Gwangju
* Diocese of Jeju
* Diocese of Jeonju

Military Ordinariate

* Military Ordinariate of South Korea

Dioceses in North Korea

The dioceses in North Korea are ecclesiastically suffragen to the Province of Seoul. The South Korean bishops serve as the Apostolic Administrators of the Diocese

* Diocese of Pyongyang-Archbishop of Seoul as the Apostolic Administrator
* Diocese of Hamheung-Bishop of Chuncheon as the Apostolic Administrator

Territorial Abbey

* Dokwon (덕원) in North Korea is the see of the only Territorial Abbey outside Europe. The abbey has been vacant for more than 50 years until Fr. Francis Ri was appointed the abbot in 2005. The Abbey was never united with or changed into a diocese presumably due to the lack of effective church activity in the area since the division of Korea at the end of World War II.

ee also

*Religion in Korea
*Religion in South Korea
*Christianity in Korea
*Roman Catholicism in North Korea

External links

*Languageicon|en|ko [http://www.cbck.or.kr Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea]
* [http://www.gcatholic.com/dioceses/data/countryKR.htm The Catholic Church in South Korea] by Giga-Catholic Information