2014 Pastoral Visit of Pope Francis to Korea Closing Mass for Asian Youth Day August 17, 2014 Haemi Castle, Seosan-si, Chungcheongnam-do Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Korean Culture and Information Service Korea.net (www.korea.net) Official Photographer : Jeon Han This official Republic of Korea photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way. Also, it may not be used in any type of commercial, advertisement, product or promotion that in any way suggests approval or endorsement from the government of the Republic of Korea. If you require a photograph without a watermark, please contact us via Flickr e-mail. --------------------------------------------------------------- êµÂÙ© Ãâ€â€žÃ«Å¾â‚¬Ã¬Â¹ËœÃ¬Å ¤ì½†ë°©Ã•œ ì œ6ÃÅ¡Å’ 아시아 ì²Â년대ÃÅ¡Å’ ÃÂÂ막미사 2014-08-17 충ì²Â남ë„ 서산시 մ미ìÂÂ성 문Ãâ„¢â€Ã¬Â²Â´Ã¬Å“¡ê´€ê´‘부 մ외문Ãâ„¢â€Ãâ„¢Âë³´ì› ì½â€Ã«Â¦Â¬Ã¬â€¢â€žÃ«â€žÂ· 전Õœ
Published: 19 August 2014
Pope Francis
Pope Francis visited South Korea on 14-18th August 2014, and the local Augustinians joined in the celebrations. Six of them participated in a special liturgy for male and female Religious.
This special event for members of religious orders was a papal liturgy on Saturday evening, 16th August, which 4,000 religious sisters and 400 male religious priests and brothers attended. In his homily, the Pope gave lively emphasis on community life and the vow of poverty. Six Korean Augustinians participated in the event (and two of them appear in the photo below).
The event took place at a Catholic welfare centre called Kkottongnae or ‘Flower Village’ which is 160 kilometers south of Seoul; it was started by a Korean diocesan priest in 1976 and now cares for some 4,000 residents, including mentally and physically handicapped children. It has 1,000 workers (many of them volunteers), its own orders of religious brothers and sisters and a university faculty for social welfare. Because of the Pope’s visitation of so many of the sick and handicapped at Kkottongnae, his liturgy with the Religious began late and had to be shortened.
Two young Augustinians at the papal event at Kkottongnae, South Korea.
The visit of the Pope to South Korea throws a spotlight on the challenges and opportunities facing the Catholic Church in Asia, a region that is home to 60% of the world’s population but just 12% of the global Catholic community. In 2010, about 3% of Asians were Catholic, compared with 72% of Latin Americans and a third of Europeans. The Philippines was home to more than half of the 131 million Catholics in Asia in 2010, making it the third-largest Catholic community in the world. South Korea and Vietnam have fast-growing Catholic communities, but Catholics make up just 10% and 7% of their populations respectively.
Pope Francis is scheduled to return to the Asia-Pacific on 12-19th January 2015 to visit the Philippines, which is home to more than half of the Asia-Pacific region’s Catholics, and possibly also to go to Sri Lanka as part of the same journey.