Pope to visit South Korea in August, Vatican says

Pope Francis will make his first trip to Asia in August, visiting South Korea for a festival of Asian Catholic youth, the Vatican said on Monday.

Francis will be in South Korea Aug. 14-18, the Vatican said, without giving details of his schedule. The Sixth Asian Youth Day is due to take place in the diocese of Daejeon from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17.

The leader of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church, who was elected nearly a year ago, visited Brazil last July and is due to make a trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories in May.

The late Pope John Paul visited South Korea twice.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Hugh Lawson)