Top Stories 26/08/04 Vatican to host first Confucian-Christian conference in Korea

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The colloquium comes as the Vatican's dialogue office continues efforts to deepen engagement with Confucian followers

Participants take part in the Seokjeon Daeje ceremony, which occurs twice a year to honor the Chinese philosopher and teacher Confucius, on the grounds of a Confucian temple at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul on March 14, 2024. The Vatican is organizing its first Confucian-Christian colloquium in South Korea during the first week of August. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)

By UCA News reporter

Published: July 27, 2026 11:34 AM GMT

Updated: July 28, 2026 11:33 AM GMT

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue plans to host its first Confucian-Christian colloquium in South Korea, convening clergy, scholars, and practitioners from 12 countries to explore ways to build a better, more humane society.

The Aug. 4-5 colloquium, scheduled to take place at Sogang University’s Jeong Ha-sang Hall in Seoul, plans to discuss the theme “Dialogue on the Contribution of Christianity and Confucianism to an Ideal Society: New Heaven, New Earth, and Great Unity.”

Organizers said the meeting will examine the Christian vision of “a new heaven and a new earth” from the Book of Revelation and the Confucian ideal of Great Unity, or datong, found in the Book of Rites, Catholic Times of Korea reported.

The local organizers include the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, Sungkyunkwan University and Sogang University.

Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, is expected to attend the colloquium, along with dicastery officials including Fathers Indunil Janakaratne Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage and Paulin Batairwa Kubuya.

Confucian and Catholic scholars from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the United States, including clergy, religious, theologians, philosophers, and those engaged in interreligious and cultural dialogue, are expected to attend the colloquium.

The colloquium comes as the Vatican's dialogue office continues efforts to deepen engagement with followers of Confucian traditions.

In 2024, the dicastery and Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan organized a meeting on guidelines and prospects for Christian-Confucian dialogue.

Vatican News reported at the time that the Taiwan meeting was seen as a “significant step forward” in drafting guidelines for dialogue with followers of Confucianism.

The Seoul colloquium is expected to explore universal fraternity, virtuous leadership, benevolent governance and ecological responsibility at a time of social division, environmental crisis and ethical uncertainty.

The organizers said the results will be published in Acta Pro Dialogo, the journal of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, to support the continued development of Christian-Confucian dialogue.

On Aug. 6, the delegation is expected to visit major cultural and historical sites in Korea.

This story is brought to you in partnership with Catholic Times of Korea