Pope Appoints Bishop Yoo Heung-sik as Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy

Bishop Lazarus Yoo Heung-sik, the head of the Daejeon Diocese of the Catholic Church in Korea (Photo by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] On the 11th (local time), Pope Francis appointed Bishop Lazarus Yoo Heung-sik, the Archbishop of the Daejeon Diocese of the Korean Catholic Church, as the Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy, the Vatican announced.

The Congregation for the Clergy is a department that reviews the pastoral activities of diocesan priests and deacons and supports bishops for this purpose. This is the first time in Vatican history that a Korean clergyman has been appointed to a senior position of undersecretary or higher.

Bishop Yoo was born in Nonsan, Chungnam, graduated from the Lateran University in Rome, Italy, with a degree in dogmatic theology in 1979, was ordained a priest there, served as a professor and president at Daejeon Catholic University, and was consecrated as a bishop in 2003.