By Kwak Yeon-soo
Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, former archbishop of Seoul, passed away late Tuesday (27) at the age of 89. Cheong, who became Korea’s second cardinal after the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, had been receiving treatment for various age-related ailments, according to officials of the Catholic Church.
He was hospitalized at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul in February due to his frail condition. Cheong was in a critical condition due to several illnesses, but opted not to receive life-support treatment.
“ Cardinal Cheong passed away at 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday while in hospital for his deteriorating health. Medical staff and officials of the Archdiocese of Seoul witnessed the hour of his death. His last words were, ‘Thank you and always be happy. God wants us to be happy,'” Huh Young-yeop, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Seoul said at a news briefing Wednesday.
“ As the late cardinal dictated his wish to donate his organs including corneas, his body underwent extraction surgery. In March, he donated all his assets to charities, including Myeongdong Babjib (a soup kitchen), and for the religious education of children.”
President Moon Jae-in issued a condolence message, Wednesday, saying he was “ particularly saddened” by the cardinal’s death.
“ Under the motto ‘Omnibus Omnia,’ or all things for all people everywhere, Cardinal Cheong taught us big lessons about sharing and learning to coexist. His saying that ‘humanity is more important than money’ will always be engraved in our hearts,” he said.
Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, the current archbishop of Seoul, mourned the death of his predecessor.
“ The cardinal always made his Christian mission a top priority and wanted the Church to be the salt and light of society. He also practiced a pastoral ministry that emphasized the values of life and the family,” Cardinal Yeom said.
Politicians and religious groups also paid their respects to the late cardinal.
“ I met Cardinal Cheong several times. He once told me that ‘Politicians should serve and sacrifice themselves for the sake of greater love.’ I will always remember his words,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wrote on Facebook.
“ Cardinal Cheong led the Church and emphasized the values of life and family in the process of democratization,” the United Christian Churches of Korea said in a statement.
The cardinal was born in 1931 to a devout Catholic family in Seoul. He briefly studied chemical engineering at Seoul National University before serving as a commissioned officer during the 1950-53 Korean War.
He decided to become a Catholic priest after surviving near-death experiences and seeing dead bodies piled up during the war. He studied theology at Catholic University from 1954 to 1961 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961.
In 1968, he went to Italy to attend graduate school. He obtained a master’s degree in canon law from Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.
In 1970, he became the youngest bishop in Korea at the age of 39. From 1996 to 1999, he was the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea, the highest decision-making body in the Korean Catholic Church.
He then served as the archbishop in the Archdiocese of Seoul between 1998 and 2012 following the late Cardinal Kim.
Cardinal Cheong became Korea’s second cardinal in 2006 after Kim. After stepping down as archbishop in 2012, he focused on writing and translating some 60 books, many of which were on canon law.
During his lifetime, the cardinal was exceptionally supportive of disadvantaged people and communities. As bishop of Cheongju, he helped to establish Kkottongnae, or Flower Village, the largest church-run social welfare facility in Korea.
Cardinal Cheong also sought to bring reconciliation and peace to the Korean Peninsula. From 1998 to 2004, he was the head of the Korean bishops’ Commission for the Reconciliation of the Korean People. This led to the creation of the National Reconciliation Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in 2014.
The Catholic Seoul Archdiocese will set up a mourning hall in Myeongdong Cathedral and hold a funeral mass at 10 a.m., May 1, there after five days of memorial masses dedicated to the late Cardinal. His body will be laid to rest in the Catholic Priests Cemetery in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
