The Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations is currently visiting South Korea to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between the country and the Holy See.
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, who will be staying in Korea until November 23, will highlight the Church’s attention to the Asian continent to find new paths of peace to address fratricidal wars.
During his meeting with a group of Korean faithful on September 16, Pope Francis mentioned this objective.
“I would then like to invite you to rediscover your vocation as 'apostles of peace' in every sphere of life... it is the stimulus to become companions on the road and witnesses of reconciliation; it is the credible testimony that the future is built not with the violent force of weapons, but with the gentle one of proximity,” said the Holy Father.
Archbishop Gallagher is also set to meet with South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and the President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK), Rev. Matthias Ri Yong-hoon.
He will also attend a symposium on a project exploring the history of relations between the Vatican and South Korea, which bears the theme “Being custodians of memory and custodians of hope.”
Furthermore, the archbishop is scheduled to celebrate a Mass at the Seosomun Shrine to pay respect to more than a hundred early Korean martyrs who were canonized by St. John Paul II at the site in 1984.
This visit would be Archbishop Gallagher’s second trip to the Asian country since July 2018, wherein he met with then-President Moon Jae-in and toured the Joint Security Area near the inter-Korean border.
On Monday, the archbishop discussed different issues of mutual concern through a phone call with South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin.
Park expressed his hope that the improvement of bilateral ties between the two countries will aid in their planning for the upcoming World Youth Day in 2027, which South Korea will be hosting.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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