Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of P'yŏng-yang

Pyeongyangen(sis)

Latin-rite diocese covering Pyongyang and surrounding North Korea, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Seoul, elevated to diocese in 1962. The see has been vacant since 1949, when Bishop Francis Hong Yong-ho was imprisoned by the North Korean government and disappeared. The Archbishop of Seoul, Peter Chung Soon-taick, has served as apostolic administrator since 2021; organized Catholic life in the territory has been suppressed since the Korean War.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
10 March 1962
Latin
Pyeongyangen(sis)
Annuario code
001002692

The see in figures

Priests
20
Extent
42,939 km²

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

The register holds no ordinary for this see. Where a chair is vacant the vacancy is the fact, and it is recorded rather than filled in. See the bishop.

The cathedral

Catedral de Changchung stands in P'yŏng-yang, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Seoul

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Seoul.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

The Roman Catholic Church maintains the Diocese of Pyongyang in North Korea. Francis Hong Yong-ho, its only official bishop, was imprisoned in 1949 by the North Korean government led by Kim Il-sung and later disappeared. The Archbishop of Seoul serves as Apostolic Administrator for Pyongyang.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].