Cardinal-designate Andrew Yeom Soo-jung will be officially elevated to the post in a ceremony at the Vatican on Saturday.
Yeom, Seoul’s archbishop since 2012, will be among the 19 who will receive their red hats ― a symbol of a cardinal’s willingness to shed blood for the faith ― rings and assignments from Pope Francis. The ceremony, called the consistory, will start at 11 a.m. local time on Saturday (7 p.m. Korean time).
The next day, the pope will hold a Mass to celebrate the installation of the new cardinals.
On Sunday, Yeom will lead a group of Korean churchmen to a meeting with the pope, where he plans to ask for the pontiff to take interest in Korean issues, including the unification with North Korea.
“I will ask him to pray for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Yeom told reporters at Incheon International Airport on Feb. 16 shortly before departing for the Vatican.
Cardinals, who wear red hats called galeros and red robes, are the second-most senior clergymen in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the pope.
Yeom is the third Korean to be appointed to the position, following the late Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (1922-2009) and Nicolas Cheong Jin-suk, both preceding Yeom as archbishop of Seoul.
By Lee Sun-young (
milaya@heraldcorp.com)
