Cardinal You Heung-sik: Korean Peninsula can never give up on peace

By Alessandro Di Bussolo

The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and former Bishop of Daejeon, presided at Mass on Sunday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, praying for peace and reconciliation between South and North Korea.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who will be received in audience by Pope Leo XIV on June 15, was present at the celebration.

Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik expressed his hope that Korea may show the world “that dialogue is stronger than confrontation, reconciliation stronger than hatred, and trust stronger than fear.”

“The Korean Peninsula still bears the wounds of division,” he noted. “Brothers and sisters still live separated. What suffering could be greater than this? We can never give up on peace, for any reason. We stand before the responsibility of committing ourselves, all together and with all our strength, to building peace.”

Addressing President Lee directly, Cardinal You Heung-sik expressed his hope that the Republic of Korea “may bear witness before the whole world that dialogue is stronger than confrontation, reconciliation stronger than hatred, and trust stronger than fear.”

On the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, on the eve of Pope Leo XIV’s audience with President Lee, Cardinal You Heung-sik recalled that “even in the most difficult places, there is always hope.”

Compassion, he said, “must take the place of violence, and communication must take the place of indifference.”

“Even when someone seems to be a person with whom dialogue is impossible,” he added, “the path of peace opens when we seek encounter with a heart willing to listen.”

The Korean Cardinal stressed that, guided by Pope Leo XIV, “the Catholic Church continues to work tirelessly to carry out her mission of safeguarding the dignity of every human life and building a world of peace.”

Cardinal You celebrates Mass for peace on the Korean peninsula

True peace is born of sincere and open dialogue

True peace, Cardinal You Heung-sik explained, is not simply the absence of conflict, but is born of concrete commitments: “sincere and open dialogue, respect for the dignity of every human person, and the effort to understand the situation of the other.”

Advertisement

“The language of politics and diplomacy may differ,” he said, “but the desire to safeguard life, serve the human person, and seek the common good can always meet in the spirit of the Gospel.”

Pope Francis and compassion for victims

Cardinal You Heung-sik went on to say that today’s world is one “in which compassion toward our brothers and sisters is needed more than ever.”

Yet, he continued, where compassion should be found, “we often find indifference and selfishness; and even violence and force seek to take its place.”

In the midst of this reality, he said, “the Lord calls us to have a heart full of compassion toward those who are victims of violence.”

The Cardinal then recalled Pope Francis’ meeting with the families of the victims of the Sewol ferry tragedy during his journey to South Korea in August 2014.

“With deep silence, with prayer, and with a gaze full of love, he welcomed their pain,” said Cardinal You Heung-sik, adding that Pope Francis “showed concretely that the Church must be a Church that walks together with the poor and with those who suffer.”

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attend the Mass on Sunday

Church stands beside those who are wounded

Cardinal You Heung-sik concluded by recalling that, on the return flight to Rome in 2014, Pope Francis was asked whether his gesture of consolation could be interpreted politically.

Pope Francis replied clearly: “Before human suffering, one cannot be neutral.”

For Cardinal You Heung-sik, those words “brought deep consolation and courage to Korean society.”

They also served as a reminder, he said, “that the way of the Gospel and the Church’s way of living compassion do not consist in creating divisions, but in standing beside those who are wounded.”