Archbishop Chung Sun-taek appointed to Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization

Archbishop Chung Sun-taek of the Archdiocese of Seoul has been appointed a member of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization. His term will run for five years.

The Holy See announced the appointment June 30 (local time), releasing a list of more than 20 new members for the section.

The Dicastery for Evangelization was established under the apostolic constitution "Praedicate Evangelium" and comprises two sections — the Section for World Evangelization and the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches. The Pope presides over it directly.

The section supports the proclamation of the Gospel and the deepening of faith in regions undergoing first evangelization, and handles matters related to the establishment and modification of ecclesiastical jurisdictions and the appointment of bishops. It also helps newly established particular churches grow and become self-sustaining, and promotes missionary activity in cooperation with bishops' conferences, institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, associations and ecclesial movements. In addition, it oversees quinquennial reports from churches in its jurisdiction, manages apostolic visitations, and advances missionary cooperation through the Pontifical Mission Societies.

Chung graduated from the Department of Industrial Chemistry in the College of Engineering at Seoul National University before studying at the major seminary of the Catholic University of Korea. He entered the Carmelite Order in 1986 and was ordained a priest in 1992. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seoul in 2013 and received episcopal ordination in 2014, then was named archbishop of Seoul and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang in 2021. He currently serves as a standing committee member of the bishops' conference, a board member of the Korean Catholic Central Council, chairman of the Bishops' Conference Committee for the Clergy and Bishops, chairman of the Pastoral Committee for Migrants in Korea, and a synodal representative of the Korean Bishops' Conference.

Among Korean clergy currently serving as members of Vatican dicasteries are Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik — a member of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Section for World Evangelization of the Dicastery for Evangelization, and the Dicastery for Bishops, as well as a member of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State — Archbishop Kim Hee-joong of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Bishop Lee Sung-hyo of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and Bishop Jang Sin-ho of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.