Pope prays for Korea ferry disaster victims

2014-08-15 9

Pope Francis has commemorated the more than 300 people killed in a ferry disaster in April in South Korea.

On the second day of his first trip to Asia, he met with with families of victims and some survivors of the tragedy ahead of a Mass before around 50,000 people at the World Cup stadium in the central city of Daejeon.

At the end of the service, Francis prayed and described the tragedy as a “great national disaster”.

He also urged South Koreans, who are among Asia’s richest people, to beware of what he called the spiritual “cancer” that often accompanies affluent societies.