Late Pope Francis’ Pyongyang visit nixed by North Korea’s silence

Late Pope Francis’ Pyongyang visit nixed by North Korea’s silence

SEOUL — The reason the late Pope Francis was ultimately unable to travel to Pyongyang and meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — a possibility many had hoped for at the time — was because the isolated regime never responded to the Vatican’s efforts to arrange a papal visit there, according to Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik last Thursday. “Pope Francis had a great interest in North Korea. When then-President Moon Jae-in visited him in 2018 a…