New Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik officially appointed

You Heung-sik (71, photo), the fourth cardinal from Korea, was appointed as of Saturday (local time) in the ceremony at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

Cardinal You Heung-sik completed his appointment ceremony together with 19 other clergy from around the world who were appointed as cardinals in May by Pope Francis. Lazarus You Heung-sik is the fourth Korean to serve as a cardinal from the Korean Catholic church following the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, the late Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk and Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (79) appointed in 2014. After the ceremony, Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik said he will dedicate his life to service as cardinal.

Cardinals are the senior clergymen after the Pope and the cardinals serve as the Pope’s top advisors and administrators pursuant to the laws of the Church. Cardinals younger than 80 years old can participate in the conclave that elects the Pope.

Cardinal You Heung-sik was born in 1951 in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province and served as the president of Daejeon Catholic University and as the bishop Diocese of Daejeon and is known to be one of the Korean clergy who can directly communicate with Pope Francis. In 2014, Cardinal You Heung-sik pulled through the Pope’s visit to Korea and was named to head a department of the Roman Curia with his promotion to Archbishop in June 2021.


Gab-Sik Kim dunanworld@donga.com