Bishop Léonard Dubong, a French national who was dispatched to Korea shortly after the Korean War and conducted pastoral activities primarily in rural areas for over 70 years, passed away on the 10th at 96.
According to Catholic news sources, Bishop Dubong underwent an emergency procedure for a cerebral infarction at Andong Hospital on the 6th but died that day.
Bishop Dubong was born in 1929 as the second son among three sons and two daughters in a Catholic family in Orléans, France. He joined the Paris Foreign Missions Society at the age of 21, later studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and its graduate school, and was ordained in June 1953.
He was dispatched to Korea in December 1954 and served as an assistant pastor at Daejeon Daehyeongdong Catholic Church for 10 years. He held positions as the guiding priest of the Daejeon Archdiocesan Student Association, the guiding priest of the Catholic Labor Youth Association, and the director of the Daejeon Archdiocese Secretariat.
In 1969, he was appointed bishop by Pope Paul VI and became the first bishop of the Andong Diocese, leading the diocese for about 21 years until his retirement in December 1990. Bishop Dubong was committed to activities for marginalized social groups under the banner of a "poor church."
During his tenure as the bishop of Andong, in 1973, the Damien Clinic for Hansen's disease patients was opened in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, and in December 1978, the Andong Diocese Catholic Farmers' Association was founded.
Bishop Dubong also experienced firsthand the changes in Korean society, which overcame difficulties and achieved high growth. He was selected as a special naturalized citizen in 2019 and became a dual citizen of Korea and France. Recently, he lived in a chapel in Uiseong, serving Mass for local residents or hearing confessions for distant visitors.