Pope Leo XIII was the first to approve the separation of the community from the control of diocese of Beijing and assigned priests from the
Paris Foreign Missions Society but never went due to the Anti-Christian sentiment and persecutions during that time.
Pope Gregory XVI issued a
papal bull,
Ex debito pastoralis, on 9 September 1831, establishing the
Apostolic Vicariate of the Korean Kingdom, 조선/Corea/Curiate(Italian)/朝鮮(正體中文), on territory split off from the then
Diocese of Peking, in what used to be part of
Imperial China. It was renamed on 8 April 1911 as the
Apostolic Vicariate of Seoul 서울/漢城(正體中文), when it also ceded territory to establish the
Apostolic Vicariate of Taiku (
Daegu). It lost more territories, beginning on 8 May 1920, to establish the
Apostolic Vicariate of Wonsan. On 17 March 1927, it again ceded territory to establish the
Apostolic Prefecture of Hpyeng-yang, and on 25 April 1939, it lost territory again to establish the
Apostolic Prefecture of Shunsen. The Apostolic Vicariate was again officially renamed on 12 July 1950 after its See as
Apostolic Vicariate of Seul. It lost territories again on 23 June 1958 to establish the
Apostolic Vicariate of Cheongju and the
Apostolic Vicariate of Daijeon, and on 6 June 1961, it lost again to make the
Apostolic Vicariate of Incheon, all three now have
suffragan bishops. The diocese was raised to the level of
Metropolitan Archdiocese on 10 March 1962. It lost again on 7 October 1963 to establish the
Diocese of Suwon and it ceded territory again on 24 June 2004 to establish the
Diocese of Uijeongbu, now both its suffragans. The archdiocese has hosted official Papal visits by
Pope John Paul II in May 1984 and October 1989 and by
Pope Francis in August 2014. == Ecclesiastical province ==