한국?대만 천주교회의 코로나19 대응 요인 분석: 포스트 코로나 시대, 종교의 공적 역할을 위한 조건 탐색

Abstract

The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused various crises in our society. Religion, meanwhile, does not appear to be playing its part in dealing with the crises, which has led people to question the presence of religion in society and its public role. How can religion justify its existence and play a public role in the post COVID-19 era? This paper has analyzed the response to COVID-19 by the Catholic Churches of Korea and Taiwan, and confirmed the religious conditions for playing a public role. The Korean and Taiwanese Catholic Churches made active efforts to prevent COVID-19. What made this possible were the leadership of the Pope, close ties between him and regional churches, and the pursuit of and historical experience of a common good as a core principle of Catholic Social Doctrine. These indicate what conditions religion needs fulfill in order to play its public role in our society. According to these cases, the key conditions required for religion to perform its public role are the leadership of religious leaders, close ties among religious members, a social doctrine that pursues common good, and experiences of practicing it directly. It is hoped that subsequent studies will generalize the conditions that enable the public role of religion.