Archbishop Gallagher: Diplomacy in the Church is an instrument of hope

By Roberta Barbi 

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher has visited South Korea to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the country and the Holy See.

There, he addressed a Symposium organised to mark the occasion.

The Archbishop, the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, began by emphasising how, in Korean culture, the number 60 holds a special significance, since it evokes "the passage to a new cycle of life and a phase of greater fullness."

In the Bible, moreover, "this number indicates the preparation for a full fulfilment and expresses 'the idea of mutual support and interconnection'."

Remembrance as gratitude

Archbishop Gallagher recalled how this 60th anniversary coincides with the conclusion of an archival research and preservation project supported by the Korean government and bishops. The project concerns documents preserved in the Vatican Apostolic Archive, the Apostolic Library, and the Pontifical Representation in Seoul.

The Archbishop reviewed the last sixty years of history, in which there have been three papal visits to South Korea—those of John Paul II in 1984 and 1989, and Pope Francis in 2014—and as many visits of Korean heads of state to the Vatican—those of Kim Dae-jung in 2000 and Moon Jae-in in 2018 and 2021.

In this period, Archbishop Gallagher said, the Gospel has taken root with great vitality in Korea.

Since then, he added, Korea has become, "from a land of mission, a place of departure for numerous missionaries." 

The research project has also unearthed documents relating to the help given by then-Archbishop Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, to the Korean delegation to the United Nations in 1948. Archbishop Roncalli provided input for the recognition of the Republic of Korea by the UN.

Church and diplomacy: signs of hope

Archbishop Gallagher then went on to emphasise how preserving the past and recalling it is a sterile activity if it does not lead to drawing from it the resources to face "the hopes and challenges of the future".

In the face of what the Holy Father calls "the third world war fought piecemeal", of phenomena such as the arms race, the nuclear threat, and terrorism, "the Church and the structures of diplomacy are united by the same task: to be a sign of hope. A sign, that is, that war is not inescapable but that, on the contrary, it can be overcome through dialogue.

In this perspective, papal diplomacy becomes "an instrument at the service of human coexistence and a voice that reaffirms on every possible occasion the common aspiration to stability, security, and peace". A peace, however, that is not a mere balance of forces but a true peace, founded on justice. 

Archbishop Gallagher concluded his speech by expressing his hope for an ever-increasing collaboration between the Holy See and South Korea "in facing the great challenges that loom over the present and future of the world, particularly in the East Asian region".