Kosan (AsiaNews) South Korean Catholics from Kosan in the archdiocese of Teagu joined the celebrations for the Buddha's birthday and made the traditional '108 bows'. They were led by Fr Chung Hong-kyu, their parish priest, in a visit to Enjeok-sa Temple to show respect for the Buddhist community; there, they performed the traditional 108 bows to honour the Buddha.
Over 100 participants bowed for one hour and half standing in circle around a big Pascal candle with the cross, Alfa and Omega.
Kosan Catholics expressed their friendship for their Buddhist brothers and sisters by decorating the grotto of Holy Mary with colorful lotus lamps, gifts of the Enjeok-sa Temple.
"Since love and mercy are the same, any difference between our two religions is small," Father Chung said.
"The Buddhist attitude of humbling oneself and respecting nature is the same for the Catholics. So, we Catholics thought to celebrate Buddha's Birthday with them," he added.
In the meantime, the South Korean government announced it was releasing 1,102 prisoners on Buddha's Birthday.
According to the Justice Ministry, 70 of them served more than 10 years, while another 60 are very sick.
''We have expanded the number of inmates on the parole list by 300 to give another chance to those who served at least ten years of their sentence so that can restart their life," a ministry official said.
Prisoners likely to re-offend were excluded from the list.