Catholics hopeful for US-North Korea summit

By Francesca Merlo

Catholics around the world are praying for Tuesday’s scheduled summit in Singapore between the leaders of the United States and North Korea.

Pope Francis on Sunday asked people to pray and expressed his hopes that the summit would contribute to a future of peace on the Korean peninsula and throughout the world. 

US President Donald Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an historic summit on Tuesday.

Brother Anthony belongs to the Taizé community in South Korea and has been there since 1980.

Brother Anthony told Xavier Sartre of Vatican News that, although they do not know what to expect, Catholics remain hopeful that the summit will be the start of a new process of reconciliation between North and South Korea.

“There has been too much hatred for too long” he states.

When asked whether he trusts in this hope, Brother Anthony says there are numerous factors to consider and that we can only wait and see.

“If it does not come tomorrow it will come. It must come”.

With regards to the Korean population, Brother Anthony states that the North Korean leader’s reactions to previous meetings have given South Koreans hope. “They have just discovered that the leader of the North seems to be a human being rather than a monster, as he has often been presented”.

Thanks to their new view of the North’s leader, South Koreans are hopeful that the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting will be positive.

“There is so much ignorance on both sides and that has to be overcome.”