Go to contents

What gifts will be presented to the Pontiff?

Posted August. 15, 2014 03:28,   

한국어

What gifts will be presented to Pope Francis, whose visit to Korea is the first for a pope in 25 years, after Pope John Paul II in 1989, and is the third for a pope overall? It is known that meaningful gifts that also suit his usual image of a homespun, frugal Pope.

At the largest Korean social welfare facility, Kkotdongne in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, which the Pope will visit on Saturday, a portrait of the Pope will be delivered. The portrait has been carefully embroidered over several months in collaboration by the members of the facility, who have various disabilities. A 74-year-old woman, whose nickname is "smiling angel" who does not have either arms yet never loses her smile, Kim In-ja (baptismal name Cecelia), will present the best results of the paper cranes, which she folds with her toes in everyday life.

North Chungcheong Province has prepared a pyrograph portrait of the Pope, which depicts him holding and lovingly looking into a baby. A pyrograph is a traditional painting method where the surfaces of paper, wood, or leather are singed with a hot iron to draw pictures, letters, or patterns. North Chungcheong Province Intangible Cultural Asset No. 22 Kim Yeong-jo has prepared it, stayed up late at night for 10 days for the work on maple wood.

Eumseong County Government, where the Kkotdongne is located, has produced a hand-crafted fountain pen using the root of a yew tree, which is said to live a thousand years and last another thousand years after death, to contain the meaning of asking to deliver the message of love to the marginalized around the globe.

South Chungcheong Province will present traditional ceramic Buncheong ware with incised fish design, which is its representative cultural product.

Aside from them, former “comfort women” will attend a Mass for peace and reconciliation on next Monday and present the Pope with a framed picture titled “Flower cut off before bloom” drawn by the late Kim Sun-deok (1921-2004).