ANCHOR: On his third day in South Korea, Pope Francis led a beatification Mass in downtown Seoul for 124 Korean martyrs. A crowd of about 900-thousand people gathered in and around the Mass at Gwanghwamun Plaza on Saturday, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.
Our Kim So-yon has more on the rare papal Mass.
 
REPORT: Pope Francis beatified 124 Korean martyrs at a Mass held in downtown Seoul at Gwanghwamun Plaza. 
 
In the beatification Mass held on Saturday, the pontiff declared the late Christians as "Blessed," the third of the four steps needed to become a “Saint.”
 
In the following sermon, the pope said the example of Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung and the other 123 martyrs challenges people to think about what they would be willing to die for.
 
[Sound bite: Pope Francis (Italian)]
"Their example has much to say to us who live in societies where, alongside immense wealth, dire poverty is silently growing and where the cry of the poor is seldom heeded." 
 
The pope stressed early Christians in Korea resembled the community of the First Generation Church believers who shared their possessions without regard to their social classes.
 
The beatification Mass was attended by about 100 bishops, 19-hundred priests and about 170-thousand Catholics. Protective walls were set up to enclose the venue stretching about a kilometer and a half from City Hall to Gwanghwamun Plaza.
 
Outside the protected zone, the police estimated about 900-thousand people gathered to witness the rare papal Mass. Beatification Masses have usually been officiated by the Vatican’s Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saint.
 
As the pope paraded to the altar in an open-topped car, he briefly got out of the vehicle and consoled a group of some 400 family members of the Sewol ferry victims gathered at the tip of the plaza.

Among the family members in attendance, Kim Yeong-oh, who lost his daughter in the ferry sinking, held Pope Francis’s hand and gave him a letter. Kim, who has been on a hunger strike, asked the pope to support a special bill aimed at revealing the truth behind the maritime tragedy.

Following the beatification Mass, Pope Francis visited South Korea's largest social welfare facility, dubbed Keottongnae, or flower village, located in North Chungcheong Province and home to thousands of people with disabilities.
Kim Soyon, KBS World Radio News.