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Pope Francis to North and South Koreans: Reject 'Mindset of Suspicion and Confrontation
Pope Francis, right, blesses a child upon his arrival for the Closing Holy Mass of the 6th Asian Youth Day at Haemi Castle in Haemi, south of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool) AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool

Pope Francis to North and South Koreans: Reject 'Mindset of Suspicion and Confrontation

"...and instead to shape a culture formed by the teaching of the Gospel and the noblest traditional values of the Korean people."

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up his first trip to Asia on Monday by challenging Koreans — from the north and the south — to reject the "mindset of suspicion and confrontation" that cloud their relations and instead find new ways to forge peace on the war-divided peninsula.

Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he arrives for a closing Holy Mass of the 6th Asian Youth Day at Haemi Castle in Haemi, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014. (Image source: AP/Kim Hong-Ji, Pool)

Francis celebrated a Mass of reconciliation in Seoul's main cathedral attended by South Korean President Park Geun-hye as well as some North Korean defectors. It was the final event of a five-day trip that confirmed the importance of Asia for this papacy and for the Catholic Church as a whole, given the church is young and growing here whereas it is withering in traditionally Christian lands in Europe.

In a poignant moment at the start of the Mass, Francis bent down and greeted seven women, many sitting in wheelchairs, who were used as sexual slaves by the Japanese military during World War II. One gave him a pin of a butterfly — a symbol of the plight of these "comfort women" — which he immediately pinned to his vestments and wore throughout the Mass.

Capping a trip that saw him reach out to China, North Korea and a host of other countries that have no relations with the Holy See, Francis said in his homily that reconciliation can be brought about only by forgiveness, even if it seems "impossible, impractical and even at times repugnant."

"Let us pray, then, for the emergence of new opportunities for dialogue, encounter and the resolution of differences, for continued generosity in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and for an ever greater recognition that all Koreans are brothers and sisters, members of one family, one people," he said.

It was a theme Francis laid out from the start of his visit, which was clouded by the firing of five rockets from Pyongyang into the sea. North Korea later said the test firings had nothing to do with Francis' arrival but rather commemorated the 69th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japanese occupation.

Before the Mass, Seoul Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung dedicated a "crown of thorns" to the pope made from barbed wire taken from the heavily fortified demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. "Ut unum sint" reads the inscription "That they may be one" — a phrase usually invoked when praying for unity among Catholics, Orthodox and other Christians but given an entirely new meaning in the Korean context.

Pope Francis, right, blesses a child upon his arrival for the Closing Holy Mass of the 6th Asian Youth Day at Haemi Castle in Haemi, south of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014. (Image source: AP/Lee Jin-man, Pool)

In his homily, Francis said the Korean people knew well the pain of division and conflict and urged them to reflect on how they individually and as a people could work to reconcile.

He challenged them to "firmly reject a mindset shaped by suspicion, confrontation and competition, and instead to shape a culture formed by the teaching of the Gospel and the noblest traditional values of the Korean people."

When he was a young Jesuit, the Argentine-born Francis had wanted to be a missionary in Asia but was kept home because of poor health. He used his trip to South Korea to rally young Asians in particular to take up the missionary call to spread the faith.

He also used the trip to console Koreans: He met on several occasions with relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry sinking, in which 300 people were killed. Throughout his trip, he wore a yellow pin on his cassock that was given to him by the families.

Pope Francis smiles as he leaves at the end of a mass concluding the 6th Asian Youth Day in Haemi, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014. (Image source: AP/Gregorio Borgia)

On Monday, he received another pin from Kim Bok-dong, one of the "comfort women" who attended his Mass. These elderly Koreans are looking for greater global attention as they push Japan for a new apology and compensation. The butterfly symbolizes support to resolve the "comfort women" issue.

In an interview with The Associated Press before the Mass, another one of the women, Lee Yong-soo, said she hoped the meeting would provide some solace for the pain she and the other "comfort women" still feel more than seven decades after they were violated. Lee regularly speaks to the media about their grievances and has taken a high-profile role in highlighting their plight.

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