ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - In the Jubilee Year, Catholics entrust themselves to the intercession of Cardinal Stephen Kim, Servant of God

Saturday, 22 February 2025 cardinals evangelization beatification

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KOREA, REPUBLIC OF

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In the Jubilee Year, Catholics entrust themselves to the intercession of Cardinal Stephen Kim, Servant of God

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Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - Hundreds of people - up to 800 a day - come every day to the Catholic cemetery of Yogin, a city south of Seoul, to visit the tomb of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (1922-2009), "Servant of God" and former Archbishop of Seoul, and to entrust themselves to his intercession. In order to commemorate, in the Jubilee Year, the evangelizing impulse that marked the Cardinal in his ministry as a baptized person, priest and bishop - in accordance with the Gospel phrase he often quoted: "You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world" - the Catholic communities of Seoul have organized in recent days the second symposium dedicated to the Cardinal and on February 16 they took part in a memorial mass on the 16th anniversary of his death in the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Seoul.
During the Eucharist, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Seoul, Auxiliary Bishop Job Koo Yobi, emphasized that "Cardinal Kim has personally shown today's believers, even those who do not believe in God, how to live the Gospel." His testimony will be valuable to Korean believers in the Jubilee year and also in view of World Youth Day, which will take place in Seoul in 2027, said the Auxiliary Bishop.
Among the more than a thousand faithful who attended the mass, 200 were active donors to the foundation created in 2010, a year after the death of Cardinal Kim, the "Fool sharing Foundation", which takes up one of the mottos and proverbs of the Cardinal, who loved to define himself as "a fool of Christ", adding that "a fool speaks to fools".
The Eucharist was the first commemorative Mass since Cardinal Kim was named a "Servant of God" after the official opening of the diocesan phase of the beatification process in July 2024. The Mass is usually held annually in the cemetery where the cardinal is buried. This year, the celebration in the cathedral was intended to give more people the opportunity to be present, pray and ask for the cardinal's intercession together.
Meanwhile, the symposium dedicated to Cardinal Kim affirmed that the beatification process will only move forward with the "full trust of the people in the intercession of the candidate for beatification and canonization," explained Fr. Boguslaw Turek, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, who spoke at the conference. The symposium, entitled "The Life, Virtues and Fame of Holiness of Cardinal Stephen Kim Soo-hwan II," was organized by the Committee for Beatification and Canonization of the Archdiocese of Seoul and the Korean Research Institute of Church History.
"Prayers of intercession must continue without interruption," the Vatican dicastery's Undersecretary continued. Regarding the recognition of the miracle, Fr. Turek explained that "the prayer of intercession must be offered before the event considered a miracle occurs."
Good work in the diocesan phase of the process helps the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to continue the process, he stressed. The diocesan tribunals must actively question witnesses, conduct historical and archival research, and collect all documents about the candidates in order to carefully and in detail reconstruct their lives and prove their heroic virtues.
Father Cho Han-gyu of the Catholic University of Seoul stressed: "Cardinal Kim is the person who has best lived and exemplified the imitation of Christ in our time: an example for all Christians." Father Koh Jun-seok, parish priest of the Hyehwa-dong parish in the Archdiocese of Seoul, affirmed: "When Cardinal Kim was Archbishop of Seoul, his pastoral letters focused primarily on 'renewal of the Church and evangelization.' His work was a multifaceted pastoral service for a community that was called to proclaim the Gospel while celebrating the faith and exercising the service of charity and community: all this he did in a deeply Eucharistic life in which he gave himself completely." Auxiliary Bishop Job Koo Yobi concluded: "Today's society seems to be moving in a different direction from that followed by Cardinal Kim. I hope that this event will be an opportunity for many people to follow his exemplary life and virtues." The memory of the person and work of the Cardinal are promoted and preserved by the "Stephen Cardinal Kim Institute", a research institute named after him, which manages a historical archive and the publications dedicated to him. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 22/2/2025)