Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, South Korea's highest-ranking catholic priest, created controversy with his remark that seemingly supported the Catholic church's posture 100 years ago in its ambiguous relationship with Ahn Jung-geun, a devout Catholic and a Korean independence fighter who gunned down Hirobumi Ito, a Japanese government official who played a prime role in Japan's advance to colonize Korea.
In his sermon this week, which marks the 100th anniversary of Ahn's patriotic act, Cheong said the church's decision 'to suspend the priesthood of a Western priest for three months for his sympathetic involvement in Ahn's final days before the latter's execution was a "best decision" to protect the priest, Hankyoreh said.
Some Catholic priests' acts in Korea under the Japanese colonial era drew mixed views from scholars.
While some Western priests in Korea at that time were sympathetic toward the Korean underground fighters against Japanese occupiers and helped them, some also tipped the activities of the underground Korean fighters to the Japanese authorities, leading to, for example, the arrest of the 105 Korean patriots, it said, citing theologian Park Young-dae.
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