▲ April 2014, Pope Francis and Heungsik Yu, Daejeon diocesan bishop met in the Vatican.

I truly love Korea.
was a remark passed by Pope Francis to the newly-appointed cardinal SoojungYeom at the Roman Catholic Cardinal Investiture on February 23, 2014. This meaningful remark carried over to his exclusive visit in Korea. The Vatican and the Presidential Residence made official announcements that Pope Francis, the leader of world Catholicism, aged 76, will visit Korea from August 14 to 18 to attend the 6th Asian Youth Day. Korea was the first Asian country that the Pope decided to visit after the enthronement in March 2013.
 

The Schedule of 4 Nights and 5 Days to Meet Asian Youths in Korea
The Pope takes care of a schedule exclusively set for Korea without stopping by other nations in this trip. He is scheduled to meet President Geunhye Park and then meet with Asian youths in the celebration of Asian Youth Day and celebrate mass during this visit with the theme of ＆Rise and Shine＊. The 6th Asian Youth Day, supervised by Daejeon Catholic Diocese from Aug. 13 to 17, opens at the Solmoe Holy Ground in Dangjin, Chungnam and closes at Haemi-myeon, Seosan.
 
The Pope reads mass of Assumption Day with an intention for Daejeon citizens in Daejeon World Cup Stadium on August 15. He is expected to partake in a variety of cultural programs together with Asian youths in the Solmoe Holy Ground, which is where priest Daegon Kim, the first Korean priest and a saint, was born.The opening mass for the Asian Youth Day will also be held there. On the 17th, the closing mass for the｛Asian Youth Day will be in the Haemi Holy Ground in order to continue accompanying youths spiritually.
 
On August 16, a beautification ceremony elevating Paulus Jichung Yoon and 123 Korean priests who are his colleagueswill be executed in Gwanghwamun. On the same day, Pope Francis will spend long hours visiting Kkottongnae (flower village),a community of the disabled and wanderers that is run by the Cheongju diocese. The Pope is scheduled to share fraternal love with disabled children here. 
 
The itinerary of his visit to Korea concludes with a ※mass for peace and reconciliation§. Pope Francis will deliver a mass for peace and reconciliation following the meeting with religious leaders on the 18th and says goodbye to Korean Catholics.
 

Message of Love and Peace to be Reverberated in Korea
This is the third visit to Korea by the Pope ;it is the first in 25 years since Johannes Paulus II visited in 1989 (the 44th International Eucharistic Congress) following his earlier visit in 1984 (bicentenary of the foundation of Korean Catholic Church).
 
The significance of Pope's visit goes beyond the mere visit of a religious leader. In general, the message delivered at the placesvisited by the Pope, who is a spiritual anchor for the people of the world and an apostle of peace, tends to approach the whole world as an important topic and influence politics, society, and culture in each country.
 
This visit to Korea, too, is attracting interest and attention not only from the Korean government and churches but from the world. It is the first time in history for the Pope to participate in the celebration of an Asian Youth Day, and it is considered exceptional that the Pope attends the beautification ceremony held in the actual locality instead of in the Vatican. Particularly, this is his first visit to Asia after the election; it is presumed that the Pope was motivated by the possibility of meeting youths from 15 Asian countries at once in addition to the Korean ones through participation in the Asian Youth Day.

The reason the Pope visited Brazil July of last year was that the festivities celebrating the World Youth Day were held there. Pope Francis sets a premium on consoling straying youths and suggesting guidelines and directions for their lives more strongly than any other Popes in history.
 
The world's attention is also focused on the moves of Pope Francis, who has chosen Korea, which is the only divided country in the world, as the first Asian country to visit in addition to the significance of meeting Asia. The Pope has continuously appealed and prayed for peace in the Korean peninsula through various messages and sermons. This has brought about the prospect of the Pope's visit having a positive influence on the reconciliation between North and South Korea.
 

Pope's Visit to Korea in 25 Years So much Welcomed
After the visit to Korea was decided after a number of other Asian countries had invited the Pope, the Korean Catholic world, as well as the whole nation, are welcoming the visit as a national celebration. In a message, Bishop Peter U-il Kang, chairperson of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, wrote "the Pope will encourage Korean Catholic Church to declare the peace gospel of the Lord on the entire Asian continent and become the foundation for shining the light and glory of the Lord onto the world" when the Pope's visit to Korea was officially announced.

The government, which has been endeavoring to make the Pope's visit happen, mentioned in an official briefing that "the visit by Pope Francis, who is a symbol of honorable poverty and neighborly love, is expected to become a good opportunity to deliver a love and peace message to the Korean peninsula as well as Northeast Asia."
 
Pope Francis's personal response to the welcoming message of Korea for the Pope's visit was also impressive. The Pope has delivered a meaningful message that expresses his intention to visit by saying "I am pleased to reveal the plan to meet youths of [the] Asian continent in Daejeon, Korea on August 15" during a mass with an impromptu sermon among 100,000 people gathered at St. Peter's Square in celebration of Palm Sunday, on April 13.
 
The Pope's visit to Korea will be the first to be made in 25 years by the Pope himself. The eyes of the world are on Korea as the visit is expected to be a step for peace and hope.
 
Note : the specific itinerary and the programs can change in the future in relation to Pope Francis's visit to Korea.
 

Pope Francis, Selected as Number One World Leader
The Pope's real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936. He was appointed cardinal in 2001 and served as chairman of the Argentina Bishops' Conference from 2005 to 2011. He was elected the 266th Roman Catholic Church's Pope on March 13, 2013, succeeding Benedictus XVI, who had resigned due to health reasons.
 
After the inauguration, he is being seen as a different Pope in the eyes of the world by showing his commoners-friendly behavior towards poor neighbors and the weak and especially emphasizing the necessity of church reformation through the message, ※Act for the weak and justice. Churches should not be reluctant to get mud§.
 
Pope Francis, who is respected and loved by numerous people of the world beyond religions and religious sects, was selected as the number one leader among the fifty greatest world leaders by Fortune, economic journal in the United States, on March 20. Fortune commented that "the Pope presented a new direction for church reformation at present when it has been one year since the enthronement[,] and he is being respected even outside the Catholic Church".