Archbishop of Seoul to be appointed cardinal

Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, the current Korean Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seoul, has been included in the list of 19 new Cardinals to be named by Pope Francis next month.

The 70-year-old is the third Korean to be appointed to the position, following the late Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (1922-2009) and Nicolas Cheong Jin-suk, who also served as Archbishop of Seoul until last year.

Born in 1943 in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, Yeom graduated from the Catholic University of Korea with a degree in theology in 1970. He became a Catholic priest in the same year. He was appointed the archbishop of Seoul in May 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

According to Vatican tradition, cardinals who have reached the age of 80 are no longer eligible to vote for the next pope. Yeom is one of the 16 to be named as new Cardinals next month who are younger than 80. Only three included in the list are 80 or older.

Pope Francis read the list of his first batch of cardinals during the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, on Sunday. The 19 appointees are from Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Europe, including the countries of Haiti and Burkina Faso. No one from the U.S. is included in the list.

The official appointment ceremony will be held at the Vatican on Feb. 22. 

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)