Peter Chung Soon-taick (; born 5 August 1961) is a South Korean

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Since December 2021, he has been the

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

Archbishop of Seoul The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Metropolitae Seulensis'', ) is a Metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church comprising the metropolitan area of Seoul, South Korea, whose province comprises pa ...

and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang.

Biography

Early life

Chung was born on 5 August 1961 in

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. In 1983 he began his studies in the Department of Industrial Chemistry at

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

's College of Engineering, earning his degree in 1986. He studied at the Songsin Theological Campus of the

Catholic University of Korea The Catholic University of Korea () is a private Roman Catholic university in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It was established in 1855. The Catholic University of Korea operates campuses in Seoul and in the neighboring Bucheon. The uni ...

. He entered the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the Order of

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbreviation, abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catho ...

of Korea from 1986 to 1992. On 25 January 1992, he took his

perpetual vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many different kinds of re ...

Priest

Chung was ordained a Carmelite priest on 16 July 1992. He then earned a master's degree in Sacred Scripture at the

Pontifical Biblical Institute The Pontifical Biblical Institute (also known as Biblicum) is a research and postgraduate teaching institution specialised in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies located in Rome. Founded in 1909 by Pope Pius X, it is an institution of the ...

. From 2005 to 2008, he served as Provincial Definitor of the Order of Discalced Carmelites of Korea and Vice-master of

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

monastery and from 2008 to 2009, he served as the first Definitor of the Order of Discalced Carmelites of Korea and served as the Definitor General of the Order of Discalced Carmelites in Rome for the Far East and Oceania from 2009 to 2013.

Bishop

On 30 December 2013,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed him an

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Seoul and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Tamazuca. He was consecrated with Timothy Yu Gyoung-chon on 5 February 2014 in the Changcheon-dong Stadium, Seoul, by

Andrew Yeom Soo-jung Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (; born 5 December 1943) is a Korean prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Archbishop of Seoul from 2012 to 2021, while also holding the title of Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang in North Korea. P ...

, Archbishop of Seoul, assisted by Basil Cho Kyu-man,

Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of Seoul, and Linus Lee Seong-hyo, Auxiliary Bishop of Suwon. He chose as his episcopal

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

: ''Deus Pater, Mater Ecclesia'', meaning "God the Father, Mother Church" (Korean: 하느님 아버지, 어머니 교회).

Archbishop

On 28 October 2021, Pope Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Seoul to succeed Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung. Chung was installed at the

Myeongdong Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (; ), informally known as Myeongdong Cathedral (), is the national cathedral of the Archdiocese of Seoul. Located in the Myeongdong neighbourhood of Jung District, Seoul, South Korea, ...

of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 2021.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Peter Soon-taick 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in South Korea Living people 1961 births People from Daegu Discalced Carmelites Roman Catholic bishops of Seoul Discalced Carmelite bishops Seoul National University alumni Catholic University of Korea alumni Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni South Korean Roman Catholic archbishops