Papabili: You Heung-sik, the Lazarus from the Far East

Vatican City: Peace in every corner of the earth and reconciliation of the Korean peninsula are the mantra of the South Korean cardinal among the papabili (pope tips) for Pope Francis’s succession. The name he chose, Lazarus, refers to the resurrection, to the new birth with God. The South Korean cardinal You Heung-sik has a history that speaks of bridges and dialogue: he was the key man during Bergoglio’s visit to South Korea in August 2014 and is now one of the possible candidates for his succession.

According to Ansa News Agency, born in 1951 in Nonsan-gun Chungnam, You Heung-sik experienced first-hand the tragedy of the Korean War that soon left him an orphan of his father. After completing his primary school education, he enrolled at Daegeon Middle and High School in Nonsan, where he graduated in 1969. During these years, he was the beneficiary of a scholarship from an Austrian women’s association and decided to thank them by returning to church. At 16, he was baptized and chose the name Lazarus, which referred to a new life with God. He encountered a first obstacle in his journey of faith in his family, but he got around it with a white lie: while he was going to take the entrance exam to the seminary, he told his family – who did not accept his spiritual path – that he had gone to take the test at a secular university.

In 1969, he was admitted to the Catholic University of Seoul, where he studied philosophy and theology. Three years later, when he was called up for compulsory military service, he fulfilled his duty, but without losing sight of his goals. In 1976 he moved to Rome and enrolled at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he was ordained a priest: at 28 he was a priest of the diocese of Daejeon, and a few years later he obtained a doctorate in moral theology.

After returning to his homeland, he held many positions: first assistant parish priest of the Cathedral of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus in Daejeon, then director of the Solmoe retreat house and rector of the Catholic education center in Daejeon; finally, professor at the Catholic university of the same city. John Paul II appointed him, at the age of fifty-one, coadjutor bishop of Daejeon. Between 2005 and 2012 he visited North Korea four times as president of the social service of the episcopal conference of the territory.

In 2014 he welcomed Pope Francis during his apostolic journey to South Korea in Daejeon and four years later he was called to take part as a member of papal nomination in the XV ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Fast forward to 2021: Bergoglio appointed him prefect of the congregation for the clergy, archbishop and member of the congregation for the evangelization of peoples. In mid-2022 he became cardinal.