SEOUL (SE): The Vatican held an official celebration in Seoul, South Korea, on September 14 recognising the martyrdom shrines of the country’s capital as official International Pilgrimage Sites, a first for Asia.
 
In his homily, Andrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung, of Seoul, said, “I believe, today’s recognition of Seoul’s Catholic Pilgrimage Routes as an International Pilgrimage Site by Vatican will become a milestone (and) that Churches in Asia and all over the globe can band together in the name of pilgrimage.”

Jeju (UCAN): Pope Francis lent his support to some 500 Yemeni refugees on the southern tourist island of Jeju, South Korea, sending €10,000 ($92,000) from the papal charities though Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, the apostolic nuncio to Korea.
 
The archbishop visited the Diocese of Cheju (Jeju) from July 28 to 29 to show the pope’s solidarity with the Yemeni refugees. He said that that the diocese’s care and efforts coincide with the wishes of Pope Francis. 
 

SEOUL (UCAN): Over 100 Catholic deacons in South Korea joined an Ecumenical and Interreligious Pilgrimage of Catholic Deacons, a June 20 to 22 pilgrimage to places of worship for other religions in Seoul to promote religious tolerance and understanding organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK).
 

SEOUL (UCAN): A new chapel will be built in the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom, the truce village on the inter-Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that was established when Korean War (1950-53) ended in an armistice.
 
The chapel will replace an older structure built in 1958. Bishop Francis Xavier Yu Soo-il, of the Military Ordinariate of Korea, celebrated a ground-breaking ceremony on June 5.
 

GWANGJU (SE): Father Nandana Manatunga thanked the people of South Korea for their continuous support of those struggling against repression and state violence throughout Asia as he was presented with the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights at the Culture Centre in Seogu on May 18 this year.
 

SEOUL (UCAN): According to figures released on April 13 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, a total of 96,794 young Catholics were baptised—representing a drop of 12.9 per cent compared to 2016.
 
It is the slowest rate of growth in the last decade, leaving Church authorities concerned about a continued wind-down as parishioners, in line with Korean society as a whole, are greying at the temples.
 

Seoul (UCAN): As South Korea continues to modernise and with the number of single mothers on the rise, calls to decriminalise abortion have increased from sectors of society. In response, the Catholic Church launched a signature campaign on 3 December 2017 to keep the country’s anti-abortion law in place and has gathered over a million names to date. 
 

PAJU (UCAN): Peace on the Korean Peninsula calls for repentance and atonement between Pyongyang and Seoul a three-day symposium ending on December 3 in Paju City in South Korea on the role of Catholic people in fostering peace in the region has concluded.
 
But the symposium was closing just as the United States of America (US) and South Korea were launching military air exercises, heightening tensions between the two Koreas, as well as South Korea and China.