Written by KOR SocCom

Seoul, Korea, 17 September 2024 -- His Eminence Cardinal Virgilio da Silva, Archbishop of Dili, Timor-Leste, is visiting South Korea from 14 to 18 April to participate in a congress of East Timorese migrant workers. The Cardinal arrived in Korea on the morning of the 14th and visited the Embassy of Timor-Leste in Seoul, followed by the Salesian Provincial House in Shingil-dong, Seoul, accompanied by Ambassador Gregorio de Sousa, a Past Pupil of Don Bosco.

There are approximately 6,000 migrant laborers from Timor-Leste in South Korea, mostly young people in their 20s who work on fishing boats in fishing villages or are employed in rural areas across the country doing simple but very hard work.

Cardinal da Silva had dinner with the confreres of the provincial house and had a cordial and fraternal conversation with them. Having already traveled to Korea three times, in 2000 when he was the formation delegate of the Timor-Leste-Indonesia Vice-province, in 2017 when he was the Vice-Provincial, and in 2021 when he was ordained Archbishop of Dili, Cardinal da Silva has a great deal of interest and knowledge of this country. In particular, the number of young migrant workers sent to Korea has increased dramatically in recent years, and he has made great efforts to provide pastoral care for them. His visit to Korea is also purely for the purpose of meeting with migrant workers, and he took time out of his busy schedule after having just hosted the Pope. As part of this pastoral care, it was three years ago that he sent Fr Olivio, who was a novice during his time as Novice Director, to Korea to provide pastoral care for young migrant workers.

Timor-Leste is a young country, with 65% of its 1.3 million people under the age of 30. More than 6,000 of these young people are migrant workers in Korea, 0.5% of the population. This percentage is second only to Mongolia (60,000 out of a total population of 3.5 million, or 1.7%). "Every month, hundreds of young people leave Timor-Leste for foreign countries such as Australia and South Korea in search of jobs and a better future, which means that everything is scarce in Timor-Leste. However, I think it is necessary for their future as well as the country's future for such a large number of young people to go abroad and work hard. South Korea's industrialization experience proves it well!"

The cardinal offers the unexpected prospect that migrant laborers fromTimor-Leste, especially in a country where the entire population is Catholic, can serve not only as laborers to fill labor shortages in South Korea but also as a renewed vitality and witness to the faith of the local church. In fact, the devastation of rural areas has led to emptied local churches, and it is hoped that the migrant workers from Timor-Leste who are working in these areas will be able to fill the void for some time and integrate well enough to bear visible witness to their deeply held faith in Korean society.

Having just hosted the Pope, Cardinal da Silva had a suggestion of great wisdom for the Korean Church, which will host the 2027 World Youth Day. "Young people want to meet the Pope. We bishops were very surprised to see how enthusiastic the young people were just by the presence of the Holy Father." Three years from now, when Seoul hosts WYD, we don't know if Pope Francis will be there or if it will be another pope, but what is certain is that Seoul has been given a golden opportunity to host the pope, the cardinal emphasized. He prayed that the meeting would be a place of "reconciliation" that would heal the many wounds in Korea and East Asia. "Hundreds of thousands of young people will be coming from all over the world, and if only we could have a feast of reconciliation with them! Between North and South, between neighboring countries, between rich and poor, between generations, between races, between religions, between regions and between histories... We have so much to reconcile, and I hope that Seoul 2027 will be the center of it, because there will never be another opportunity like it, and the young people who will gather there and play a leading role in bringing about reconciliation will now themselves become messengers of reconciliation and spread it around the world." What a beautiful and wise suggestion.

The Cardinal also expressed his gratitude and best wishes to the Korean Church and the Salesian Family. "The Korean Church and the Salesian Family have been generous in helping us in Timor-Leste with various projects, and I am grateful that through their support, the lives of our people are gradually improving and our hopes for the future are becoming brighter. I ask you to continue to demonstrate your spirit of solidarity with humanity and the love of Christ, and I especially ask the Korean Church to help our migrant workers in Korea grow into more mature believers and true witnesses of the faith."

The cardinal spent the night at the provincial house and left Sunday morning for Asan, where the migrant workers' Congress is being held.

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