ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - North Korea "opens up" to the Masses celebrated by South Korean priests

Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - From next year, the South Korean Catholic Church in North Korea will send priests to celebrate the Eucharistic liturgies during the major feasts of the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. This one of the most encouraging results achieved during the official visit to North Korea carried out by a delegation of the South Korean church. The news was announced during a press conference which took place this morning in Seoul. "If there are no unexpected obstacles", said Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong, President of the Korean Bishops' Conference and member of the delegation "next Easter will be the first liturgical solemnity where priests of the Archdiocese of Seoul can be sent to the north to celebrate Mass".
On December 3, the 17 members of the South Korean delegation - which included four Bishops and 13 priests - celebrated the Eucharistic liturgy at Changchung Cathedral in Pyongyang, which was attended by 70 North Korean lay Catholics. During the Mass, the Bishops and other members of the delegation repeated the words of the Creed together with the North Korean laity present, as a sign of communion in the confession of the same apostolic faith.
The South Korean delegation was invited by the Catholic North Korean. During the Mass, the Bishops, lay people and priests sang together, received the Eucharist and exchanged the sign of peace.
On the first day of their visit, which took place from first to 4th December, members of the South Korean delegation had visited the nursing home and kindergarten run by the North Korean Catholic Association in Pyongyang. During the visit, as already reported by Fides (see Fides 05/12/2015), the Vice-President of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong Dae, invited the delegation at the Mansudae Hall of the Parliamentary Assembly and, during the interview, thanked the South Korean Church for the important role it assumed in favor of peace and reconciliation between the two Koreas. During the press conference, the invitation to the representatives of the North Korean Catholic - and positively welcomed - to visit South Korea in the near future was confirmed. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 07/12/2015)

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