This photo provided by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea shows an ordination ceremony for new priests in Jan. 12, 2021.
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A total of 6,705 native Koreans have joined the Roman Catholic priesthood in the 237 years of the Catholic history in the country, a report showed Tuesday.
According to the 2021 directory published by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, the list of ordained priests includes Father Andrea Kim, who became the first-ever Korean Catholic priest in 1845, and Father Yoon Hong-min, who most recently received his priesthood in February.
Among those, 5,515 were still active in their practice. A total of 645 have passed away, while 545 have returned to their former secular lives.
Yi Seung-hun became the first Korean Catholic with his baptism in 1784. As of 2020, there were 5.9 million Catholics accounting for 11.2 percent of the South Korea’s population.
(Yonhap)
