Pope Francis waves from a car after his arrival in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014. As Francis became the first pope in 25 years to visit South Korea on Thursday, Seoul’s never-timid rival, North Korea, made its presence felt by firing three short-range projectiles less than an hour before he arrived, officials said. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Lim Hun-jung)
DAEJEON, South Korea — Pope Francis took a high-speed train Friday to South Korea’s central city of Daejeon to meet with Catholic youths from across Asia gathered for the Asian version of World Youth Day.
Francis’ second day of his South Korean tour includes a Mass in Daejeon’s soccer stadium, lunch with some of the festival participants and then a visit to an 18th century sanctuary where Korea’s first priest was raised.
Rather than take a helicopter as planned on a foggy morning, Francis travelled by high-speed train to Daejeon, using a private car reserved for the papal delegation, the Vatican spokesman said.
Daejeon’s stadium, which hosted some 2002 World Cup matches and has a capacity of 50,000, was nearly full hours before Francis arrived. Flag-waving crowds led in chants of “Viva il papa!” welcomed him as his open-sided vehicle, with a simple canopy overhead, made its way slowly to the stadium.
Survivors of South Korea’s April ferry disaster, which left more than 300 people — most of them high school students — dead or missing were attending the Mass and Francis was expected to offer words of consolation to them. A banner outside the stadium featured a photo of the pope and read “Please wipe the tears of the Sewol families.”
Relatives of the victims are pushing lawmakers to set up an independent, transparent probe into the cause of the sinking. The ruling party is opposed to giving a new investigative committee the power to indict, saying it could shake up the judicial system.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters that Francis wouldn’t intervene in the issue, but would offer comfort to the survivors.