President Park hosts official welcome ceremony for Pope Francis at Blue House

Описание: (14 Aug 2014) Pope Francis arrived in South Korea on Thursday on the first papal visit to the Asian nation in a quarter century.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye hosted an official welcoming ceremony for the pope at the Presidential Blue House.
After the ceremony, Pope Francis signed a guest book inside the Blue House, the official residence of the South Korean head of state.
The two then held a meeting, alongside officials from the Vatican and South Korea.
During his five-day visit, Francis will be looking to encourage a vibrant and growing local church seen as a model for the future of Catholicism.
A ceremony on Saturday to beatify the Korean martyrs who perished for their faith from 1791 to 1888 could draw about 1 million people, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Other highlights of Francis' visit are set to include his participation in a Catholic festival for young believers from around Asia, and a Mass for peace and reconciliation on the war-divided Korean Peninsula.
It's the first papal visit since Pope John Paul II travelled to South Korea in 1989.
South Korea's church, which has been growing steadily over the last half century, is seen as a model for the future.
Local church officials hope for a continuing increase in believers in a country that once welcomed missionaries to help spread the faith, but now sends its own priests and nuns abroad to evangelise in other countries.

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