Pope Francis meets with residents at House of Hope

2014-08-16 82

Thousands of Catholics gathered at Kkottongnae to see Pope Francis in person and welcomed him by waving flags and chanting 'VIVA PAPA'.

The Holy Father blessed 40 disabled children, 20 adults and eight elderly patients living in the "House of Hope" in Kkottongnae.

Kkottongnae, means flower village in Korean and was established by Father John Oh Woong-jin to care for people who were abandoned by their families and society.

About 4,000 people and 1,000 priests and volunteers live at the center.

The Argentine pope who arrived on Thursday (August 14) will spend five days in South Korea, meeting some of the country's five million Catholics on the first trip by a pontiff to Asia since 1999.

The Catholic Church has been growing rapidly in South Korea, doubling in the past 25 years to about 11 percent of the population and adding some 100,000 new members every year.

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