Vatican prefect calls for Korean reunification
June 26, 2025
At the conclusion of an interview devoted primarily to the Jubilee of Priests, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy called for Korean reunification.
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Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, the former bishop of Daejon, South Korea, told L’Osservatore Romano that “June 25, 1950 is a date that has profoundly marked the history of the Korean people. That day began a war that caused immense suffering, family separations and wounds that have not yet completely healed.”
“In the Mass I celebrated this morning, I raised a special prayer intention for the reunification of the Peninsula—also because, in the conflict between the North and the South of the country, I lost my father,” he said. “On this day, the Catholic faithful of Korea unite in prayer for the victims of the war and, with a sincere heart, ask God that future generations may live in a Korea without conflict.”
The prelate continued:
The war has left deep scars in both the North and the South, and even today our Peninsula has not achieved full and lasting peace, even if there are some signs: the new leadership of the South has stopped broadcasting messages of hostility towards the North, messages that were broadcast via loudspeakers along the border between the two countries. The hope is that even the major international players will turn their attention to the reunification of the Peninsula.
As the Catholic Church in Korea, we strongly believe, following the teaching of the Holy Father, that the path of dialogue, reconciliation and healing must continue without rest. We are called not only to pray, but also to build a culture of peace and solidarity together with our brothers and sisters, among all peoples and nations. God’s peace is not simply the absence of war, but is the fruit of justice, brotherhood and life shared in the logic of the Gospel.
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