Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for peace and reconciliation at the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on August 18, wrapping up his five-day trip to Korea.

Prior to the Mass, the pope greeted and consoled surviving sexual slaves who were forced to work for the Japanese military during World War Ⅱ. He took a few minutes to talk to the gray-haired survivors sitting in the front row, all in wheelchairs, offering words of solace. One of them, 89-year-old Kim Bok-dong, gave the Holy Father a small butterfly-shaped pin which he immediately put on his vestments.

Before stepping up to the podium for the Mass, the pope bent forward, reaching out to other marginalized members of Korean society sitting in the second row, including workers who had been fired from Ssangyong Motor, an automaker that laid off much of its workforce recently. There were also residents of Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do (South Gyeongsang Province), who have been protesting against the state-run power provider’s plan to build extra-high voltage transmission towers through their town, locals from the town of Gangjeong on Jeju Island who have been opposing the construction of a naval base there, and some people who have been physically disabled.

A group of priests, nuns and regular believers, all from North Korea, were also invited to the Mass. “During the war, the majority of North Korean priests were seminarians in the dioceses of Pyongyang, Wonsan and Hamheung. Now, they have been living in South Korea since being displaced from the North,” explained a representative from the Roman Catholic Church of Korea.

“Most of these nuns are 90-years-old or over,” said the Rev. Jang Geung-seon from the Diocese of Pyongyang, who led a group of North Korean defectors that day.


Speaking at the altar, the pope made an impassioned plea for forgiveness and said, “Forgive our brothers unreservedly.”

“St. Peter asks the Lord, ‘If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ To which the Lord replies, ‘Not seven times, I tell you, but 70 times,’” the pontiff said.

“This reveals the core message delivered by Jesus: peace and reconciliation,” he said. “In telling us to forgive our brothers unreservedly,” the pope said in reference to Jesus, “he is asking us to do something utterly radical. That’s the message I send to you as I end my five-day trip to Korea.”




“Let us pray for the emergence of new opportunities for dialogue and encounters and the resolution of differences, for continued generosity in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and for an ever greater recognition that all Koreans are brothers and sisters, members of one family, one people,” he said.

The pope’s final Mass was attended by President Park Geun-hye. When the pope approached her afterward, the president thanked him for, “holding this great Mass for peace and reconciliation across the Korean Peninsula,” while wishing him a safe trip home.

“I really thank you for being part of today’s Mass and for treating me with such hospitality all throughout my stay,” the pope replied. “I am grateful that you offered me all the conveniences and all the comfortable means of transport. I look forward to seeing you in Rome,” he said, as he asked the president to visit Vatican City soon. Then, the pope gave her a commemorative medal and a rosary.

Instead of a hymn, the normal ending for a Mass, participants sang, “Our Wish is Reconciliation,” a song which calls for reconciliation between the two Koreas.


Shortly before the Mass, the pontiff had time to briefly meet leaders from 12 leading religious orders, including the Ven. Jaseung, head of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddism, the Rev. Kim Yeong-ju, head of the National Council of Churches in Korea, and the Ven. Kyungsan, the head Dharma Master of Won-Buddhism.

“Life is a path, a path that one cannot walk alone,” the pope said in Spanish to the religious leaders. “I believe that we have to walk together with other brothers and sisters in the presence of God. So I am sincerely grateful for all the leaders of the various religions. It is a path that we walk together,” the pontiff said.

“It is the path that Abraham took to reach for God in the presence of God. We are brothers. Let’s acknowledge each other and let’s walk together. Thank you all,” said the pope, asking the leaders to pray for him.



“It’s been a brief stay, but Pope Francis has brought to the peninsula peace and love and has showed his noble character of humbleness to the people,” said Prime Minister Chung Hongwon, who came to see off the pope at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province). “Your message -- ‘We get nothing from violence and conflict and only peace brings us everything.’ -- means a lot to all of us. Please pray for reconciliation and the peaceful reunification of South and North Korea,” the prime minister said.

In response, the pope said, “I pray that God will continue to protect the country’s dignity. I wish the current artificial division could proceed toward unity and that peaceful unification arrives soon. This is a hope and a promise.”

The pope delivered his last message from the plane after take-off. “I am again praying for the peace and happiness of the Korean Peninsula. May God bless you all.”

By Wi Tack-whan, Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr






(photos: Jeon Han)