Korea, Vatican and History of Korean Catholic Church

This bachelor's thesis deals with the history of Catholicism in Korea from its very beginning. It describes the background of its appearance there as well as the clash with Neo-Confucianism and following persecutions of the first believers. It defines a period before and during Japanese occupation when the Catholic Church was legal but also had to conform to demands of the government. The thesis then focuses on a period after the liberation of the nation, when the Church stopped being merely inward-looking and slowly became involved in the matters of the society. Following the Second Vatican Council it actively stood up for human rights and drew attention to dehumanizing trends of the regime's policies. The last part includes today's states of the Church, its relationship with Vatican, the tradition of Korean Martyrs and the goals of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea