A group of South Korean religious leaders paid a visit to Pope Benedict XVI and exchanged views on promoting inter-faith harmony with the Vatican, their organization in Seoul said Thursday.
Representatives of the Korean Council of Religious Leaders, a pan-religious body aimed at promoting peace between Catholics, Buddhists,
Protestants, Won Buddhists, Confucians and Cheondoists in the country, were visiting Rome as part of their week-long biblical tour that earlier took them to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
It is the first time the leaders of the Korean faith communities made a group visit to a pope, the council said in a press release. The visiting
leaders include Archbishop of Gwangju Kim Hee-joong; Venerable Jaseung of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism; Reverend Rhee Kwang-sun, head of the Christian Council of Korea; Kim Joo-won, general director of Won Buddhism Headquarters; and Choi Gun-duk, head of Sung Kyun Kwan, the Confucian foundation.
The group also met with senior Vatican leaders, including Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at the Vatican, and exchanged views on ways of promoting inter-faith peace, it said.
"The Vatican showed keen interest in the fact that Korean religious leaders jointly went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land," it said.