Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Seulensis, 서울대교구) 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 (which has two more provinces) and all North Korea, yet depends on the missionary Dicastery for Evangelization. Its Metropolitan bishop as the Archbishop of Seoul resides at his Myeongdong Cathedral in Jung-gu, Seoul. The Archbishop of Seoul is also the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang in North Korea.

There are 57 Catholic secretly active parishes in North Korea, but due to the current regime in place, no Catholic priests are permitted permanent residency at the present time.

Pope Francis announced that the Archdiocese will be the host of the 2027 international celebration of World Youth Day.

Statistics
, it pastorally served 1,534,887 Catholics (15.7% of 9,765,869 total) on 17,349 km2 in 232 parishes with 954 priests.

List of territorial losses
Pope Leo XIII was the first to approve to separate the community from the control of diocese of Beijing and assigned priests from the Paris Foreign Missions Society but never went due to the Anti-Christian sentiment and persecutions during that time.


 * Pope Gregory XVI granted a Papal bull declaring it as an official See on 9 September 1831, referring to it as the Apostolic Vicariate of Korea  조선/Corea (Curiate Italian)/朝鮮 (正體中文), on territory split off from the then Diocese of Peking, of what used to be part of Imperial China.
 * It was renamed on 8 April 1911 as Apostolic Vicariate of Seoul 서울/漢城 (正體中文), when it also lost territory to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Taiku (Daegu).
 * It lost more territories, beginning on 8 May 1920 to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Wonsan
 * On 17 March 1927, it lost again to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Hpyeng-yang
 * On 25 April 1939, it lost again to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Shunsen.
 * It was again officially renamed on 12 July 1950 after its See as Apostolic Vicariate of Seul.
 * It lost territories again on 23 June 1958 to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Cheongju and the Apostolic Vicariate of Daijeon,
 * On 6 June 1961, it lost again to make the Apostolic Vicariate of Incheon, all three now have Suffragan bishops.
 * The diocese was raised to the level of Metropolitan Archdiocese on 10 March 1962.
 * It lost again on 7 October 1963 to establish the Diocese of Suwon
 * It lost again on 24 June 2004  to establish the Diocese of Uijeongbu, now both its suffragans.

The diocese has received two official Papal visits from Pope John Paul II in May 1984 and October 1989 and from Pope Francis in August 2014.

Ecclesiastical province
The Metropolitan's ecclesiastical province comprises his own Archdiocese and the following suffragan bishoprics, mostly in South Korea :
 * Diocese of Chuncheon 춘천
 * Diocese of Daejeon 대전
 * Diocese of Hamhung 함흥 (in North Korea)
 * Diocese of Incheon 인천
 * Diocese of Pyongyang 평양 (in North Korea)
 * Diocese of Suwon 수원
 * Diocese of Uijeongbu 의정부
 * Diocese of Wonju 원주

Apostolic Vicars of Korea

 * Barthélemy Bruguière, MEP (1831–1835)
 * Saint Laurent-Joseph-Marius Imbert, MEP (1836–1839)
 * Jean-Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Ferréol, MEP (1843–1853)
 * Saint Siméon-François Berneux, MEP (1854–1866)
 * Saint Antoine-Marie-Nicolas Daveluy, MEP (1866)
 * Félix-Clair Ridel, MEP (1869–1884)
 * Marie-Jean-Gustave Blanc, MEP (1884–1890)
 * Gustave-Charles-Marie Mutel, MEP (1890–1911)

Apostolic Vicars of Seoul

 * Gustave-Charles-Marie Mutel, MEP (1911–1933), appointed Archbishop (personal title) in 1926
 * Adrien-Joseph Larribeau, MEP (1933–1942), appointed Apostolic Vicar and later Bishop of Daijeon
 * Paul Roh Ki-nam (1942–1962)

Archbishops of Seoul

 * Paul Roh Ki-nam (1962–1967)
 * Victorinus Youn Kong-hi (1967–1968; apostolic administrator)
 * Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (1968–1998)
 * Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk (1998–2012)
 * Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (2012–2021)
 * Peter Chung Soon-taick, OCD (2021–present)

Coadjutor Bishops

 * Jean-Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Ferréol, MEP (1838–1843)
 * Saint Siméon-François Berneux, MEP (1844–1854)
 * Saint Antoine-Marie-Nicolas Daveluy, MEP (1855–1866)
 * Marie-Jean-Gustave Blanc, MEP (1877–1884)
 * Émile-Alexandre-Joseph Devred, MEP (1920–1926), never succeeded to see
 * Adrien-Joseph Larribeau, MEP (1926–1933)

Auxiliary Bishops

 * Joseph Kyeong Kap-ryong (1977–1984), appointed Bishop of Daejeon
 * Paul Kim Ok-kyun (1985–2001)
 * Peter Kang U-il (1985–2002), appointed Bishop of Cheju
 * Andreas Choi Chang-mou (1994–1999), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop and later Archbishop of Gwangju
 * Joseph Lee Han-taek (2001–2004), appointed Bishop of Uijeongbu
 * Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (2001–2012), appointed Archbishop of Seoul
 * Lucas Kim Woon-hoe (2002–2010), appointed Bishop of Chunchon
 * Basil Cho Kyu-man (2006–2016), appointed Bishop of Wonju
 * Peter Chung Soon-taick, OCD (2014–2021), appointed Archbishop of Seoul
 * Timothy Yu Gyoung-chon (2014–present)
 * Benedictus Son Hee-song (2015–2024)
 * Job Koo Yobi (2017–present)
 * Paul Lee Kyung-sang (2024-present)

Sources and external links

 * Official homepage
 * GCatholic.org, with Google map – data for all sections
 * English Mass Service in Seoul
 * Myeongdong Cathedral English Mass Service
 * Yeoksam Catholic Church English Mass Service
 * Seoul International Catholic Church