Pope Francis on Aug. 27 hugs Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, who was promoted to cardinal, after putting a cap on the latter at an appointment ceremony held at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. (Yonhap News)

By Xu Aiying

Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, 70, on Aug. 27 was appointed a cardinal in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

The Korean attended the event officiated by Pope Francis along with 19 other priests who had been appointed cardinals on May 29.

The new cardinals gave their oaths of faith and loyalty and received their cardinal hats and rings. From Aug. 29-30, they will attend a cardinal conference chaired by the pope and begin full-scale activities in their new posts.

Cardinal is the second-highest position and honor in the Catholic Church after the pope. The College of Cardinals, to which all cardinals worldwide belong, is the pope's highest consultation body under the rules of the church.

You is Korea's fourth cardinal after the late cardinals Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (1922-2009) and Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk (1931-2021) and Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, 78.

Born in 1951 in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do Province, Cardinal You in 1979 graduated from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and was ordained a priest in the Italian capital.

Named coadjutor bishop in Daejeon in 2003 and archbishop in 2005, the priest in June last year was appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. He is the first Korean in the history of Roman Curia to gain the high position of secretary.

Yonhap News said that after the ceremony, Cardinal You told Korean reporters, "The pope has said, 'Let's move forward together.' So I told him that I'm willing to die both for him and the church, and he nodded and laughed."

"I always indicate in the beginning of my letters to the pope that I'm ready to die for him and the church," he added. "I will risk my life in assuming the position of cardinal."

xuaiy@korea.kr