Pope baptizes father of South Korea ferry victim

Pope Francis, right, kisses a girl as he arrives with the popemobile to celebrate a mass and the beatification Paul Yun ji-Chung and 123 martyr companions at Gwanghwamun Gate in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014. Paul Yun Ji-Chung, born in 1759, was among the earliest Catholics on the Korean Peninsula. AP

SEOUL, South Korea — Pope Francis has once again made a gesture toward the families who lost loved ones in South Korea’s ferry disaster, baptizing the father of a student victim.

The Vatican spokesman said Lee Ho Jin took the Christian name “Francis” after Sunday’s baptism, which the pope performed in the Vatican’s embassy in Seoul.

Lee had been one of a dozen relatives of victims and survivors of the ferry sinking who met privately with the pope Friday. He asked to be baptized and Francis agreed.

Francis has gone out of his way to show support for the Sewol ferry families, who are demanding an independent inquiry into the sinking which killed more than 300 people. Aside from meeting with them, Francis has worn a symbolic yellow ribbon on his cassock in solidarity.

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