Perhaps he will be more forceful in defending the oppressed than in Cuba.
Perhaps the North Koreans will find the spiritual strength they need to beat Kim Jong-Un as the Poles once found their strength in Saint John Paul II:
Pope Francis has asked for an invitation from North Korea to visit the isolated country, South Korean broadcaster KBS reported.
"I will go there as soon as they invite me. I'm saying they should invite me. I will not refuse," KBS quoted the pope as saying in an interview aired on Thursday.
Also:
As she languished in a North Korean prison camp for the crime of trying to escape her repressive homeland, Hae Woo furtively spread the word of God.
Offering a message of hope inside hell on earth, she won a handful of converts, and a tiny secret church was formed. On Sundays and religious holidays, the faithful few would gather to worship at the toilets or another unwatched corner of their wretched home.
“I remained faithful, and God helped me to survive. Even more: He gave me a desire to evangelize among the other prisoners!” Hae Woo said in testimony provided to the Register by Open Doors, a charity working to end the persecution of Christians around the world. “But I told God that I was too scared to do so. If I were caught, I would certainly be executed.”
Hae Woo (a pseudonym provided to protect her identity), who found Christianity in China during a botched defection attempt, was ultimately able to flee to South Korea, where she can now freely practice her faith. But for Christians still living under Kim Jong-un’s regime, who activists believe could number in the hundreds of thousands, worshipping openly carries the risk of being sent to a labor camp, where malnourishment, torture and death are commonplace.
**
Father Tran’s family members were among the one million people who left Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) within two years of its fall, according to Vietnamese government figures. By 1995, three million refugees had fled Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, with more than one million eventually resettling in the United States, according to the History channel.
Of the more than 2.1 million Vietnamese now in the U.S., about 700,000 are Catholics, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. Many have similar stories of enduring hardship with the help of their faith.
Decades later, in close-knit families and communities around the country, Vietnamese Catholics continue to practice their faith and live their culture, and strive to pass it on to their American-born children.
**
In response to a question from EWTN, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that the Biden administration condemns recent attacks on democratic leaders in Nicaragua, without specifically mentioning those targeting priests and other Catholic leaders.
That's strength for you.
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