Itinerary for the Pope’s journey to South Korea
This summer Pope Francis will pay a visit to South Korea, from August 13-18, 2014, on the occasion of the 6th Catholic Youth Day for the continent of Asia. Departing from Rome on Wednesday, August 13 at 16:00, the Supreme Pontiff will arrive the following morning in Seoul. After a private Mass celebrated at the nunciature, he will meet the Head of State and the constitutional bodies and give a speech to them. Then he will meet with the Korean episcopate at the headquarters of the Korean Episcopal Conference.
On Friday, August 15, on the Feast of the Assumption, he will travel by helicopter to the World Cup Stadium (built for the 2002 World Cup soccer tournament) in Daejeon to celebrate a Solemn Mass there. Afterward he will have lunch with young people at the local major seminary and then he will go to the Shrine of Solmoe to meet with young people from the Asian continent.
The Shrine of Solmoe in Dangjin (on the picture), in the province of Chungcheongnam-do, is the birthplace of Andrew Kim Taegon, the first Korean Catholic priest. Baptized at the age of 16 by the French priest Pierre Philibert Maubant in 1836, Andrw Kim Taegon was publicly executed in Saenamteo, near Seoul, on September 16, 1846. He had just turned 25 and had been ordained a priest thirteen months before. Eleven members of the Kim family died as martyrs, including his grandfather, Pius Kim Jin-hu, his uncle, Andrew Kim Jong-han, and his father, Ignatius Kim Je-jun.
The following day the Pope will visit the shrine of the martyrs of Seo So mun, where at Gwanghwamun Gate (Seoul) he will preside at the Mass for the Beatification of Paul Yun Ji-Chung and his 123 companions, martyrs who were assassinated in the 18th century for having renounced Confucianism and embraced the Catholic faith. Then he will travel by helicopter to Kkottongnae to visit the House of Hope, a center for the handicapped. He will meet with the religious communities of the country at the Training Center School of Love, along with leaders of the lay apostolate, before returning to Seoul at 19:00.
On Sunday, August 17, the Pope will travel to the Shrine of Haemi, a place where more than a thousand Catholics were persecuted, and there he will meet with the bishops of Asia and have lunch with them. At 16:30 he will celebrate the Closing Mass of the 6th Asian Youth Day in Haemi Castle.
“This is the first time that a Pope will participate in Asian Youth Day (AD): we are experiencing great joy in preparing for this meeting of young people, which will take place from August 10-17 in Daejeon, in South Korea. The presence of the Pope will surely be a grace-filled event!” Bishop Joel Bylon, Ordinary of the Filipino Diocese of Legazpi exclaimed to the news agency Fides; Bp. Bylon is also in charge of Youth Ministry at the Office for Laity and the Family in the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC).
On August 18, Francis will meet with Korean representatives of the world religions at the nunciature, the former archbishop’s residence in Seoul, then at 9:45 he will celebrate a Mass for peace and reconciliation at Myeong-dong Cathedral in the center of Seoul. Built out of bricks between 1892 and 1898, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was consecrated on May 29, 1898, and shelters in its crypt the relics of the Korean martyrs from the persecutions in 1839 and 1866. At 13:00 the papal airplane will leave Korea, with a scheduled arrival in Rome around 18:00.
(Sources: VIS/OR/fides – DICI no. 299 dated August 1, 2014)
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The Catholic Church in South Korea
