Lazzaro You Heung-sik becomes 4th Korean cardinal
Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik became Korea’s fourth cardinal in an appointment ceremony at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday.
You was one of 20 cardinals installed by Pope Francis at the consistory, or a meeting of the College of Cardinals, Saturday.
The 70-year-old archbishop became the fourth Korean cardinal after the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, the late Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk and Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung.
Cardinals are the most senior clergymen in the Roman Catholic Church after the Pope. The College of Cardinals, made up of all 226 cardinals around the world, is a group of the pope’s closest assistants and advisers. Cardinals younger than 80 — totaling 132 — participate in the process of electing a pope, known as a conclave. Along with Yeom, You became eligible to vote for the next pontiff.
At Saturday’s consistory, Pope Francis called out the new cardinals one by one and presented a red biretta, a ring and a papal bull assigning title and rank.
You’s name was called second at the consistory.
“Let's move forward together,” Pope Francis told the newly appointed Korean cardinal.
“I am prepared to die for the Pope and the Church,” You responded, and Pope Francis nodded and smiled.
Cardinal You received Rome's Gesù Buon Pastore alla Montagnola (Church of Jesus the Good Shepherd at Montagnola) as his parish church.
You will attend a two-day meeting of cardinals with the Pope on Aug. 29.
Born in Nonsan, South Chungcheong in 1951, You graduated from Daegeon High School, which was established to honor Korea's first priest, Kim Dae-geon, and was baptized a Catholic at the age of sixteen. You studied theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1979.
You served as a professor and president of Daejeon Catholic University, and was ordained a bishop in 2003. Since April 2005, he served as the diocesan bishop of Daejeon, and was appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy in June 2021. He was the first Korean clergy to be appointed to a position of undersecretary or higher in the history of the Roman Curia.
You speaks Italian fluently, and his network within the Vatican is known to be substantial. The pope came to Korea in 2014 to attend Asian Youth Day at the Solmoe Shrine Martyr Site in Dangjin, South Chungcheong, at the invitation of You. You also served as the Korean representative to Caritas International, a non-governmental organization (NGO) under the Vatican working for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Cardinal Yeom was at the ceremony along with Bishop Mathias Lee Yong-hoon, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea; Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick, the archbishop of Seoul; Bishop Augustinus Kim Jong-soo, bishop of Daejeon Diocese.
A government delegation, led by First Vice Culture Minister Chun Byong-keuk, as well as a separate delegation of lawmakers from the ruling and the main opposition parties, were also present.
BY SEO JI-EUN, BAEK SUNG-HO [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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