A una settimana dall’inizio della
XXI Summer School on Religions, quest’anno dedicata alla figura del nuovo Pontefice, riceviamo e volentieri pubblichiamo il contributo di
Giovanni Casadio (in lingua inglese) in merito al viaggio in Corea di Papa Francesco.
A conference on Pope Francis's impact on the Church and society in Italy and the World
Pope Francis beatified 124 early Korean martyrs on Saturday (yesterday) at a mass in Seoul in which he urged people in affluent societies to listen to "the cry of the poor" among them.
An estimated 800,000 people, most of them invited church groups from across South Korea, attended the open-air ceremony in hot, humid conditions at Gwanghwamun plaza – the city's main ceremonial thoroughfare.
The centrepiece of the pope's five-day visit, the beatification mass was the subject of a massive security operation, with bridges, roads and subway stations closed, and police snipers posted on the roofs of surrounding office buildings, which had their windows sealed.
According to the Church, around 10,000 Koreans were martyred in the first 100 years after Catholicism was introduced to the peninsula in 1784.
"They knew the cost of discipleship... and were willing to make great sacrifices", Francis said in his sermon after the brief beatification ceremony, which gives the martyrs the title "blessed" and marks their first step towards sainthood.
G.C.
aumenta la dimensione del font