Pope Francis, remembered for consoling Sewol victims’ families, dies

Pope Francis blesses the crowd as he arrives to celebrate the Mass of Assumption of Mary at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on Aug. 15, 2014. (AP-Yonhap)

Pope Francis, best remembered by Koreans for his visit to the country in August 2014, died in Rome on Monday at the age of 88. He was the first pope to visit the Asian nation since Pope Saint John Paul II traveled here in 1989.

On the first day of that five-day trip from Aug. 14, 2014, Francis met with and consoled bereaved family members of the Sewol ferry disaster in April that year. He was in Korea to beatify 124 Korean Catholic martyrs in Seoul, including Paul Yun Ji-chung, and to officiate Mass at Asian Youth Day.

Francis was asked twice by a Korean president to help broker peace on the peninsula, by visiting North Korea himself.

Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in made the suggestion in 2018 and 2021 during his visit to the Vatican. The entreaty never came to fruition.

In 2018, Francis replied that he would be willing to go if he received an official invitation, which never came.

“When they invite me — that is to say, please invite me — I won’t say no,” Francis said in a 2022 interview with local broadcaster KBS, adding that “the goal is simply fraternity.”

Francis was expected to attend World Youth Day to be held in Seoul in 2027.

In mid-March, Francis’ memoir, the first-ever by a sitting pope, hit Korean bookstores.

“Hope: The Autobiography,” six years in the making, discussed in length the pope’s childhood memories, reflecting on the world as seen by the son of Italian immigrants to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It also offers insight into his reform-minded thinking on major political and social issues.