Pope Francis was given a rapturous welcome during his first public outings in South Korea, where he urged people to reject materialism and “inhumane economic models.”
He delivered a homily condemning “materialism” and “the spirit of unbridled competition,” in Daejeon, 140 kilometres south of Seoul.
Presiding over a stadium mass, Francis presented the Gospel as “the antidote to the spirit of despair that seems to grow like a cancer in societies, which are outwardly affluent, yet often experience inner sadness and emptiness.”
Francis, who travelled by train instead of helicopter because of bad weather, was officiating at the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, one of the most important days in the Catholic calendar, and on Korean Liberation Day, a public holiday.
The mass was hosted in the Purple Arena, with a capacity of 40,000.
Francis entered the grounds in an open-topped popemobile, stopping several times along the way and getting down to salute the faithful.
His white skullcap was blown away on his way in.
Crowds chanted Viva il Papa (long live the Pope, in Italian), launched into a Mexican wave, and unfolded a huge banner in his honour. Many of them wore scarves, hats and T-shirts with a caricature of a smiling Francis giving a thumbs-up sign.
During the service, the Pope offered new words of comfort to the bereaved from the Sewol ferry sinking that left more than 300 dead in April, and met about a dozen relatives of the victims before mass.
He later visited Solmoe Sanctuary, the birthplace of the patron saint of Korea, Andrew Kim Taegon, as well as a pan-Asian Catholic festival in Dangjin.
The pontiff made a departure from a prepared speech in English, apologiSed for his “poor” command of the language, and addressed his young audience in Italian.
