Pope Francis to visit South Korea

It’s official: Pope Francis is going to South Korea.

A statement from the Press Office of the Holy See on Monday confirmed that the Holy Father will be traveling to the Republic of Korea from August 14th to August 18th. “Welcoming the invitation from the President of the Republic and the Korean bishops,” the statement reads, “His Holiness Pope Francis will make an Apostolic Voyage to the Republic of Korea from 14 to 18 August 2014, on the occasion of the Sixth Asian Youth Day, to be held in the diocese of Daejeon.”

Photo: www.asianews.it

No further details of the trip were immediately available, though the Holy Father has received invitations from, and spoken of his desire to visit a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka. 

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Source: news.va (Mar. 10, 2014)

A visit by Pope Francis to South Korea "would be an encouragement to our still divided and suffering nation, threatened by enduring tensions, waiting for reconciliation,» a Catholic source said. He spoke to AsiaNews after the pontiff told reporters on his flight back from World Youth Days that "next year I will go to Asia".

Although nothing is certain about the pope's future travel plans abroad, South Korea is seen by many as a possible destination.

Next year, it will host the Asian Youth Day, and the local Church hopes to see the beatification of 124 Korean martyrs.

Last April, Mgr Lazarus You Heung-sik, bishop of Daejeon, said he would invite Pope Francis to South Korea, an event that, if it did happen, would see "the whole Asian continent rejoice."

"We truly hope to see the Holy Father travel to Asia," Catholic sources told AsiaNews. "That would be an important goal; especially, in South Korea, which has become a centre for the evangelisation of the continent and around the world."

"Moreover," they noted, "the Korean Church is growing. The country is the only one that has managed to combine economic and spiritual development. A land of mission has thus become a land of missionaries."

Source: www.asianews.it (July 31, 2013)