In plenary session, the South Korean bishops launch a year of special masses dedicated to peace on the peninsula. Starting from December 1st until November 28th 2020, with a special week next June: it will be 50 years since the war that divided the peninsula into two.
Seoul (AsiaNews) - A mass a day for a whole year, every morning at 9 am, to pray for peace on the Korean peninsula. This was decided by the bishops of South Korea during the plenary session of the Bishops' Conference. The bishops asked each parish in each diocese to celebrate their particular function with the intention of restoring peace to the country.
The initiative was born on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War: on June 25, 1950, troops from the North (supported by China) invaded the South, helped by the United States. This gesture concealed one of the most ferocious conflicts in modern history: in three years of war, at least 3 million victims are estimated.
Formally, the war never ended: the clashes stopped after the armistice of 1953 which divided the national territory into two. Since then, Seoul and Pyongyang are still at war. And that is why, explains a Catholic source, "we need to pray for peace today more than ever. May the goodwill of people of faith succeed there where politics has failed”.