TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The South Korean Catholic Church predicted the possibility of the expansion of Catholicism in South Korea following Pope Francis' visit to the country. Catholic is the largest religion in South Korea after Buddha, Protestant, with 5.44 million believers.
According to the Korean church association's data, Catholic followers have reached 10.4 percent from the country's total population. In less than 50 years, the number of catholic followers has reached from 1 percent to 10 percent today. They hoped the number would continue to increase up to 20 percent by 2020.
However, a bishop, Yoo Gyeong-chon, said the expansion of Catholicism is not the South Korean Catholic church's priority. The important messages from the pope's, he continued, were for the public to listen and carry out those peaceful messages and social justice. "A growth in the number of Catholic followers would be a positive outcome of the apostolic voyage," he said. "But we are not focusing on that."
PRASETYO DHARMA
