Seoul (AsiaNews) - The Korean Bishops' Conference has elected the Archbishop of Gwangju, Msgr. Hyginus Kim Hee-jong, as its new president. Up until now, the prelate had held the post for Interreligious Dialogue and Christian Unity. He presented leaders of other religions in Korea to Pope Francis during the recent apostolic visit. His deputy will be Msgr. Gabriel Chang, Bishop of Kkottongnae. Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, of Daejeon was elected to the Justice and Peace Commission.
The bishops ended the four-day plenary assembly at the seat of the Bishops' Conference in Seoul with this election. During the meeting, the bishops also decided to organize two special fundraisers: the first will be Sunday, November 16, a Day of the Laity, the proceeds of which will be allocated to private Catholic organizations; the second will be the following week, the Solemnity of Christ the King. The proceeds of this second collection, extended to all dioceses in Korea, will be allocated to the Christians of Syria and Iraq, forced to flee their homes by the advance of Islamic extremists.
Immediately after the election of the President and secretariat, the heads of the various
committees were appointed. Justice
and Peace is considered by many Catholics
one of the most "sensitive"
for the Church in Korea, given the special
"social" nature of the local Catholics. To date, the role was held by
Msgr. Matthias Li, Bishop
of Suwon.
After his election, Msgr. You thanked his brother bishops for the confidence expressed in him "a sign of God's will. I ask you - he added - to
move forward together and be
ready to help me". The
Bishop of Daejeon then stated
that the
Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium represents a "compass for our social relations. The joy of living the gospel in a concrete way should help us move out, to go beyond, always keeping Christ in our
heart".