Seoul, South Korea, Jul 16, 2014 / 14:33 pm
The Archdiocese of Seoul in South Korea has revealed the official song for Pope Francis' visit to the country, scheduled for Aug. 14-18 to coincide with Asian Youth Day.
The video for the song was recorded at the Cathedral of Myeongdong in Seoul, one of the country's largest churches, and features 36 national celebrities, many of whom have an international following in the country's K-Pop music genre.
The song is entitled "Koinonia," a Greek word meaning communion. The lyrics focus on the relationship of love between God and the members of the Church.
According to the archdiocese, the song aims to convey the message that Pope Francis' visit is a gift from God for the entire nation.
"We wanted to dedicate this video to the Holy Father as a gift," said Huh Young-yeop, a spokesman for the organizing committee.
The K-Pop genre of music – Korean pop with various musical influences – gained international attention in recent years due to "Gangnam Style," a song by South Korean singer Park Jae-sang, known as PSY, which gained more than 2 billion views to become the most-watched video on YouTube.
While PSY is not among the celebrities who appear in the papal visit song and video, the director of one of his own videos, Cha Eun-taek, did take part.
"Koinonia" was composed by K-Pop singer Noh Young-Shim and produced by Won Dong-Yeon.
"We created this song keeping in mind the most vulnerable among us, who are one of the main concerns of the Pope. All of the celebrities felt honored to be a part of this project," Dong-Yeon said.
The video will be shown at the main events Pope Francis will attend during his visit, including Asian Youth Day.
The trip to South Korea will be the third time a pontiff has visited the peninsula.