Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul Archidioecesis Metropolitae Seulensis 서울대교구 | |
|---|---|
 Cathedral of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Mother church) | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  South Korea |
| Territory | Seoul and Hwanghae |
| Ecclesiastical province | Seoul |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 17,349 km2 (6,698 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2021) 9,765,869[1] 1,534,887 (15.7%) |
| Parishes | 232 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 9 September 1831 (as Apostolic Vicariate) 10 March 1962 (as Archdiocese) |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Seoul |
| Patron saint | Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Secular priests | 954 |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Peter Chung Soon-taick |
| Auxiliary Bishops |
|
| Bishops emeritus | Andrew Yeom Soo-jung |
| Map | |
 | |
| Website | |
| aos.catholic.or.kr | |
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul (Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Seulensis, Korean: 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.[2]
As of 2020[update], it pastorally served 1,534,887 Catholics (15.7% of 9,765,869 total) on 17,349 km2 in 232 parishes with 954 priests.[1]
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.
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.
The Metropolitan's ecclesiastical province comprises his own Archdiocese and the following suffragan bishoprics, mostly in South Korea :
