SEOUL, South Korea -- Pope John Paul II will visit South Korea this week to attend the 44th International Eucharistic Congress.
The pope will leave Rome Friday and arrive in Seoul around 1 p.m. Saturday aboard a special Alitalia airliner that will fly from Rome via the polar route.
The pope will attend the two closing days of the congress that formally opens Wednesday on the theme of 'Christ, Our Peace.' Many foreign dignitaries will attend the Seoul Congress along with Korean Catholics, Congress organizers said.
Saturday afternoon, the pope will attend an 'Adoration of the Eucharist' rite at a church in southern Seoul and celebrate mass for Korean youths in the Olympic Gymnastics Hall.
It is possible the pope also will travel Saturday to an observation post along the western sector of the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea to celebrate 'mass for peaceful unification' of the two Koreas.
On Sunday, Oct. 8, the pope will visit President Roh Tae-woo at the Blue House, the presidential mansion. Later, he will celebrate a mass concluding the Eucharistic Congress.
He will leave Seoul for Jakarta at 9 a.m. Monday. He will spend five days in Indonesia and two days in Mauritius on his way back to Rome.
Church officials said Seoul was picked as the site of the Eucharist Congress because Catholic followers have been growing rapidly in South Korea, which remains separated from North Korea.
The pope visited South Korea in 1984 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Korean Catholic community. At that time, the pope said 'the tragically divided Korean peninsula is the symbol of our divided world.'
In an effort to help South-North Korean reconciliation the South Korean Roman Catholic Church has invited 20 North Korean Catholics to attend the Seoul Congress.
The Seoul government officially has approved the Church's gesture. Invitations have been sent through the Vatican, Catholic officials said.
There has not yet been any formal contact between the churches of the two Koreas on how to arrange for the trip of the visitors. The border between the South and the North is heavily guarded by army troops and nobody can cross it without official permits.
