Seoul (AsiaNews) - 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."