Pope Leo XIV has appointed the South Korean priest Matthew Kwang-Hee Cho Vatican. This is the first bishop designated by the Pontiff for Korea.
The elected auxiliary bishop is closely linked to the World Youth Day Organization (WYD) Seoul 2027, an event that will turn the capital of South Korea into the headquarters of this important event for the first time in its history.
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Currently, the new bishop serves as Foreign Relations of the Organizing Committee of the WYD, which will be held in Asia for the second time, after the 1995 Manila (Philippines) edition.
Since 2024, he is also a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Seoul and, since 2025, he is part of the Board of Directors of the Juan Pablo II Foundation for Youth.
Born on September 21, 1977 in Seoul, Mons. Matthew Kwang-Hee Choi studied philosophy and theology at the Catholic University of Korea, where he obtained a degree in Theology.
He subsequently studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, where he obtained a degree in Biblical Theology. He was ordained a priest on July 2, 2004.
In his ministry he has held various pastoral and academic positions, including: Training of the San Pedro Training Program for young priests (since 2020), deputy director of the San Imberto Spiritual Exercise Center (2021-2023) and director of the Department of Culture and Communication of the Archdiocese of Seoul.
He has also been a member of various commissions and ecclesial associations, such as the Company of Scholarships NGOGI, the Commission for the approval of Private Associations of Lay Apostolate and the Commission for the Causes of the Saints.
He has also held positions in the field of Catholic communication, including vice president of the Diocesan Media Commission, director of the Catholic Art Academy, the Association of Catholic journalists and Signis Korea.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.