Catholic Intelligence

Archdiocese of Seoul

Seulen(sis)

Latin-rite metropolitan archdiocese of the South Korean capital, elevated to archdiocese on March 10, 1962, whose archbishop also serves as apostolic administrator of Pyongyang. Its seat is Myeongdong Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Jung District, Seoul. As of 2020 it served 1,534,887 Catholics across 233 parishes with over 1,000 priests.

The see

Rank
Metropolitan see
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
10 March 1962
Latin
Seulen(sis)
Patron
Blessed Virgin Mary
Annuario code
001003030

The see in figures

Catholics
1,534,887
Population
9,765,869
Catholic share
15.7%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
954
Catholics per priest
1,609
Extent
17,349 km²
Catholics per km²
88

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

Archbishop
Peter Chung Soon-taick, O.C.D.

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Myeongdong Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Seoul stands in Seoul, 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

This see is the metropolitan of its province.

The sees of this province:

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

History

Covering the metropolitan area of Seoul, South Korea, the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Seulensis, Korean: 서울대교구) is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese whose province takes in parts of South Korea (a country with two further provinces) and the whole of North Korea; it nonetheless depends on the missionary Dicastery for Evangelization. The Archbishop of Seoul, its metropolitan bishop, resides at Myeongdong Cathedral in Jung-gu, Seoul.

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].