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Catholic Church in North Korea | |
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Korean: 조선의 가톨릭 교회 | |
Type | National polity |
Classification | Catholic |
Orientation | Asian Christianity, Latin |
Scripture | Bible |
Theology | Catholic theology |
Governance | Korean Catholic Association (de facto) Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (de jure) |
Pope | Francis |
President | Samuel Chang Jae-on (de facto) Matthias Ri Iong-hoon (de jure) |
Apostolic Nuncio | Alfred Xuereb |
Region | North Korea |
Language | Ecclesiastical Latin, Korean |
Headquarters | Pyongyang |
Origin | 27 December 1593 |
Other name(s) | 天主教 ("Religion of the Lord of Heaven") |
Official website | english |
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The Catholic Church in North Korea retains a community of several hundred adherents who practice under the supervision of the state-established Korean Catholic Association (KCA) rather than the Catholic hierarchy. The dioceses of the Church have remained vacant since Christian persecutions in the late 1940s. [1] [2] The most prominent congregation is that of Pyongyang, which meets at Changchung Cathedral. According to a KCA official, two other congregations exist. The state ideology of Juche has largely displaced Catholic faith, and full services are provided only to people with a Catholic family background. [3]
The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Korea in 1794, a decade after the return of Yi Sung-hun, a diplomat who was the first Korean to be baptized into the Catholic faith (which occurred in Beijing). He established a grassroots lay Catholic movement in the peninsula. However, the writings of the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, who was resident at the imperial court in Beijing, had been already brought to Korea from China in the seventeenth century.[ citation needed ] Scholars of the Silhak ("Practical Learning") were attracted to Catholic doctrines, and this was a key factor for the spread of the Catholic faith in the 1790s. The penetration of Western ideas and Christianity in Korea became known as Seohak ("Western Learning").[ citation needed ] A study of 1801 found that more than half of the families that had converted to Catholicism were linked to the Silhak school.[ citation needed ] Largely because converts refused to perform Confucian ancestral rituals, the Joseon government prohibited the proselytization of Christianity. Some Catholics were executed during the early nineteenth century, but the restrictive law was not well enforced.[ citation needed ]
A large number of Christians lived in the northern half of the peninsula where Confucian influence was not as strong as in the south. Before 1948, Pyongyang was an important Christian center: one-sixth of its population of about 300,000 people were Christian converts. The population of the Pyongyang diocese as of 1943 was 3,650,623, all ethnic Koreans.[ citation needed ]
After the division of Korea, however, the Communist government under Kim Il-sung persecuted Christians as imperialist collaborators and spies. Much of the Catholic community was either killed or imprisoned, and many more fled south. The martyrdom of the Benedictine monks of Tokwon Abbey was documented as the process of beatification was initiated for them.[ citation needed ]
The Korean Catholic Association (the state-run church) was set up on 30 June 1988. Samuel Chang Jae-on has been its president since its establishment. The association published a catechism and a prayer book in 1991.
The Changchung Cathedral was built in Pyongyang by the North Korean government in 1988 and is operated by the Korean Catholic Association. It has no priests and no bishop, [4] [5] but Mass is celebrated there on major feasts by South Korean priests, following a 2015 agreement between the Korean Catholic Association and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea. [6]
Kim Jong-il invited Pope John Paul II to Pyongyang after the 2000 inter-Korean summit, but the visit failed to materialize. A similar invitation to Pope Francis was made by Kim Jong-un following a series of inter-Korean summits in 2018. [7] [8] In 2022, Pope Francis expressed interest in visiting North Korea, if invited by the North Korean government. [9]
Caritas Internationalis has operated in North Korea, running hospitals and other humanitarian projects. "Proselytism" is strictly forbidden, with customs seizing religious texts upon entry. [2]
An invitation for the KCA to attend a Papal Mass in Seoul on 18 August 2014, during a 4-day visit to South Korea by Pope Francis, was declined by the association. [10]
In 2016, the KCA released a fiery communique concerning then-South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, denouncing her and her "satanic hordes" of supporters, saying Catholics were united with their fellow DPRK citizens in opposing her leadership. [11]
The Anglican Church of Korea is the province of the Anglican Communion in North and South Korea. Founded in 1889, it has over 120 parish and mission churches with a total membership of roughly 65,000 people.
Kim Pyong Il is the younger paternal half-brother of the former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, and the only surviving son of former leader and president of North Korea Kim Il Sung. He worked as a diplomat and lived overseas between 1979 and 2019, serving in various diplomatic positions such as ambassador of North Korea to Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul is a Metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church comprising the metropolitan area of Seoul, South Korea, whose province comprises parts of South Korea and all North Korea, yet depends on the missionary Dicastery for Evangelization.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pyongyang is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in North Korea. Its only official bishop, Francis Hong Yong-ho, was imprisoned by the government of the North Korea led by Kim Il-sung in 1949 and later disappeared. The Archbishop of Seoul acts as the Apostolic Administrator for Pyongyang.
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There are no known official statistics of religions in North Korea. Officially, North Korea is an atheist state, although its constitution guarantees free exercise of religion, provided that religious practice does not introduce foreign forces, harm the state, or harm the existing social order. Based on estimates from the late 1990s and the 2000s, North Korea is mostly irreligious, with the main religions being Shamanism and Chondoism. There are small communities of Buddhists and Christians. Chondoism is represented in politics by the Party of the Young Friends of the Heavenly Way, and is regarded by the government as Korea's "national religion" because of its identity as a minjung (popular) and "revolutionary anti-imperialist" movement.
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, informally known as Myeongdong Cathedral (명동대성당), is the national cathedral of the Archdiocese of Seoul. Located in the Myeongdong neighbourhood of Jung District, Seoul, South Korea, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Seoul, Peter Chung Soon-taick.
The Catholic Church in South Korea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
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Francis Hong Yong-ho 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 disappearance, he was for many years listed as the Bishop of Pyongyang.
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Changchung Cathedral (Korean: 장충성당) is the nominal cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pyongyang, North Korea, located in the Changchung neighborhood of Songyo-guyok, Pyongyang. It is one of only four official Christian places of worship in Pyongyang. It operates under the Korean Catholic Association.
Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack on the early morning of 8 July 1994 at age 82. North Korea's government did not report the death for more than 34 hours after it occurred. An official mourning period was declared from 8–17 July, during which the national flag was flown at half mast throughout the country, and all forms of amusement and dancing were prohibited.
Tokwon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien, located near the town of Wonsan in what is now North Korea. Founded as a monastic mission in Seoul, the community transferred to Tokwon in the 1920s to take charge of the newly created Apostolic Vicariate of Wonsan. The persecution of Christians in North Korea since 1949 made any church activity in the abbacy impossible. However the Territorial Abbacy of Tokwon is formally still kept as one of the few remaining territorial abbeys within the Catholic Church.
Andrew Yeom Soo-jung is a Korean prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Archbishop of Seoul from 2012 to 2021, while also holding the title of Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang in North Korea. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2014. He was also the chairman of Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC).
Kim Yang-gon was a North Korean politician and a senior official of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
Chilgol Church is a Protestant church on Kwangbok Street, Kwangbok, Chilgol, Pyongyang, North Korea. It is one of two Protestant churches in the country. It is dedicated to Kang Pan-sok, who was a Presbyterian deaconess and the mother of Kim Il Sung.
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