Pope Leo XIV tells South Korean religious to be peacemakers on a divided peninsula

Pope Leo XIV received 170 representatives of consecrated life from South Korea who live in Rome at an audience in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican on Monday, October 5. He told them that although they come from a distant land, they are at home, because the faith they received in their homeland "finds its roots" in the memory of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and that this gives them "new missionary impetus."

The Church in Korea: roots in a faith that began on its own

The pope emphasized the distinctive history of the Church in South Korea, which currently has about 5.97 million Catholics, 11.3 percent of the country's population. He recalled the spontaneous faith that arose there in the past through Christian texts, and the hope found in the risen Christ.

He also recalled the witness of the martyrs, singling out Venerable Thomas Choe Yang-Eop (1821-1861), known as the "martyr of sweat" for his 11 years of evangelization, which cost him his life.

Reconciliation on a divided peninsula

The pope urged South Korean Catholics to draw close to those who feel alone, to support the weary and to seek out those who have drifted away. "Have the courage to forgive, to begin again, to dialogue. Goodness is not always recognized and often requires effort, but it is this daily courage of charity that makes our proclamation of the Gospel credible," he said.

The strength to live this way, he said, comes from friendship with Jesus Christ, which must be nourished "in listening to the Word, in prayer and in silence before the Lord."

He said they must be "artisans of peace" on a peninsula that still carries the wound of division. "May you always be men and women of reconciliation. Peace begins in the heart and in daily relationships, when we listen instead of judging, forgive instead of holding grudges and choose communion instead of confrontation. Be united and builders of peace," he said. He asked the faithful to pray that "new paths of encounter may open and that the Gospel of peace may be freely proclaimed in every part of the Korean peninsula and of the world."

Looking to World Youth Day 2027

Addressing young people, the pope mentioned the next World Youth Day, which will be held in Seoul from August 3 to 8, 2027. It will be the first World Youth Day in a country where Christians are a minority, and the second in Asia, after Manila in 1995.

He said he hoped the gathering would "make visible" the arrival of young people from different countries in a land where the Gospel has grown through the witness of the martyrs. He ended his address by encouraging young people to listen and to walk with them. He reminded them that following Christ does not limit freedom but makes it complete, and that faith does not restrict life but opens it to a wider horizon.

"Prepare, then, for World Youth Day with passion, keeping in your heart the words: 'take courage: I have overcome the world,'" Leo XIV said.