A moment of grace and blessing for the entire peninsula
En una pequeña iglesia del suroeste de Corea del Sur, el jefe de inteligencia Park Jie-won anunció algo que hasta hace poco parecía impensable: gestionar una visita del Papa Francisco a Pyongyang como gesto de paz en una península dividida durante más de siete décadas. La iniciativa retoma una apertura expresada por el propio pontífice en 2018, cuando respondió favorablemente a una invitación transmitida por el presidente Moon Jae-in de parte de Kim Jong-un. Detrás de este esfuerzo late el dolor de casi diez millones de coreanos separados de sus familias por una frontera que la historia trazó y la política aún no ha sabido borrar.
- Park Jie-won, arquitecto de la histórica cumbre intercoreana del año 2000, pone ahora su experiencia diplomática al servicio de un objetivo aún más audaz: llevar al Papa a la capital norcoreana.
- La ausencia de una invitación formal por parte de Pyongyang sigue siendo el obstáculo central, convirtiendo toda la iniciativa en una apuesta diplomática de resultado incierto.
- Funcionarios vaticanos y eclesiásticos surcoreanos coordinan en silencio los pasos necesarios, conscientes de que mover a un régimen hermético requiere más que buena voluntad.
- Para la Iglesia, una visita papal no sería un acto simbólico de cierre, sino el inicio de un proceso de reconciliación enraizado en el mensaje evangélico de paz.
- Casi diez millones de familias coreanas separadas por la frontera representan la urgencia humana que da sentido moral y emocional a toda esta gestión diplomática.
Park Jie-won, al frente del Servicio Nacional de Inteligencia de Corea del Sur desde julio de 2020, hizo un anuncio sorprendente durante una misa en la iglesia de Sanjeong-dong, en Mokpo —recién designada basílica menor por el Vaticano, la primera en una parroquia surcoreana—: estaba trabajando activamente para organizar una visita del Papa Francisco a Pyongyang. Ante unos doscientos fieles, Park reveló sus planes de reunirse con el arzobispo Kim Hee-jung y con el nuncio apostólico Alfred Xuereb para avanzar en la logística de la iniciativa.
La trayectoria de Park le otorga una credibilidad particular para esta misión. Fue secretario del presidente Kim Dae-jung durante la era de la Política del Sol de los años noventa y organizó la primera cumbre intercoreana en el año 2000. Hoy, desde la cúpula de la inteligencia, actúa como puente entre Seúl, el Vaticano y Pyongyang.
Los cimientos de esta gestión se pusieron en octubre de 2018, cuando el presidente Moon Jae-in transmitió al Papa, en audiencia vaticana, una invitación de Kim Jong-un. Francisco respondió que viajaría a Corea del Norte si recibía una invitación formal de las autoridades de Pyongyang. Monseñor Lazarus You Heung-sik, hoy Prefecto de la Congregación para el Clero, confesó que aquella respuesta lo conmovió profundamente y que desde entonces reza para que el viaje se haga realidad.
El peso simbólico de tal visita sería inmenso. Casi diez millones de coreanos permanecen separados de sus familias por una frontera que lleva más de siete décadas dividiendo la península. Para los responsables de la Iglesia, la presencia del pontífice en Pyongyang no sería un gesto de cierre sino un comienzo: un momento de gracia capaz de catalizar la reconciliación. Lo que aún permanece en la sombra es si Pyongyang dará el paso de emitir esa invitación formal, sin la cual todo el andamiaje diplomático construido en silencio seguirá siendo, por ahora, una esperanza activa pero frágil.
Park Jie-won, who took over South Korea's National Intelligence Service in July 2020, stood in a modest church in Mokpo on the country's southwest coast and announced something that would have seemed impossible just years earlier: he was working to arrange a visit by Pope Francis to Pyongyang.
The revelation came during a Catholic Mass attended by roughly 200 people at the Sanjeong-dong church, which had recently been designated a minor basilica by the Vatican—the first such honor given to a South Korean parish. Park, speaking after the service presided over by Archbishop Kim Hee-jung, said he planned to meet with the archbishop and Alfred Xuereb, the papal nuncio to South Korea, to discuss the logistics of bringing the pontiff to North Korea's capital. The announcement was reported by the Vatican's Fides news agency on July 6, 2021.
Park's background made him a credible figure for such diplomatic work. He had served as secretary to President Kim Dae-jung during the late 1990s and early 2000s, a period when Kim—who would later win the Nobel Peace Prize—pursued what became known as the Sunshine Policy of engagement with the North. Park had played a central role in organizing the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000, when leaders from both sides met face to face for the first time in decades. Now, leading the country's intelligence apparatus, he was positioning himself as a bridge between Seoul, the Vatican, and Pyongyang.
The groundwork for such a visit had been laid three years earlier. In October 2018, South Korean President Moon Jae-in had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican and conveyed an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the pontiff to visit. According to Monsignor Lazarus You Heung-sik, who was later appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, the Pope responded that he would be willing to travel to North Korea if he received a formal invitation from Pyongyang's authorities. You Heung-sik said learning of the Pope's openness moved him deeply, and he had been praying ever since for the visit to materialize.
The symbolic weight of such a journey would be enormous. Nearly ten million Koreans live separated from family members by the border between North and South—a forced division that has lasted more than seven decades. You Heung-sik described the ongoing confrontation on the peninsula as among humanity's greatest current sufferings. A papal visit, church officials suggested, would not be merely a ceremonial endpoint but rather a beginning—a moment of grace that could catalyze a broader process of reconciliation, harmony, and unity rooted in the Gospel's message of peace.
Father Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, director of the Fides agency and secretary general of the Pontifical Mission Union, framed the potential visit in spiritual terms. He spoke of the Korean church's communion with the universal Church and of prayers for peace and reconciliation across the peninsula. If God willed it, he said, Pope Francis's presence in Pyongyang could open a new era of healing for a land divided by ideology and war.
What remained unclear was whether Pyongyang would issue that formal invitation Park and others were working toward. The intelligence chief's public announcement suggested the effort was serious and coordinated at the highest levels of South Korean government. Yet the diplomatic machinery required to move such an initiative forward—to convince North Korea's isolated leadership to welcome the head of the Catholic Church—remained largely hidden from view. Park's quiet work in the background, meeting with Vatican officials and church leaders, represented one of the few visible signs that the dream of a papal visit to North Korea was being actively pursued.
Notable Quotes
His visit would not be an endpoint but a starting point for a time of reconciliation, harmony, and unity in the name of the Gospel— Father Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, director of the Vatican's Fides agency
The Pope responded that he was willing to visit North Korea in the moment he received a formal invitation from Pyongyang's authorities— Monsignor Lazarus You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would North Korea's leadership even consider allowing the Pope to visit? What's in it for them?
It's about legitimacy and breaking isolation. A papal visit would signal to the world that Pyongyang is willing to engage, that it's not entirely closed off. For a regime that's been under sanctions and international pressure, it's a way to appear reasonable without actually changing policy.
And Park Jie-won—why is he the right person to make this happen?
He has history. He was there during the last real opening between North and South, in 2000. He knows how these negotiations work, who to talk to, what language to use. He's not a hardliner; he's a pragmatist who believes dialogue is possible.
The Pope said he'd go if invited. But does he actually want to go to North Korea?
That's the real question. Francis has shown willingness to visit difficult places—he went to Iraq, to the Central African Republic. But North Korea is different. It's not just dangerous; it's theologically hostile. Still, if there's a chance to witness to peace, to reach Catholics there, he might see it as a calling.
How many Catholics are actually in North Korea?
That's murky. The regime doesn't allow religious practice, so any Catholic community is underground, hidden. The Church doesn't have reliable numbers. But that's partly why a visit matters—it would be a statement that they exist, that they matter, even if the regime denies it.
What would change if this actually happened?
Probably nothing immediate. But symbolically, everything. It would crack the wall of isolation. It would give people on both sides of the border hope that reconciliation is possible. For the ten million separated families, it might mean something shifts in how their governments think about each other.