07 March 2012

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese

Day 14: Diocese of Pyongyang

Started as a Prefecture Apostolic in 1927, the last bishop to serve in residence was Francis Hong Yong-ho, who was imprisoned in 1949 and later disappeared. Seeing which was the wind was blowing with the North Koreans, the diocese has been run by an apostolic administrator from Seoul since its inception in 1962. Yong-ho is still considered its bishop, however, as a testament to him and the persecution of Catholics (and pretty much any religious personnel) in North Korea.

Which does lead to certain practical questions, mostly around how many Catholics there could be in North Korea and how the hierarch operates, if at all.


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