Among the ways the pope surprised the Korean public during his visit was by wearing a yellow ribbon and using English in public.

The pope celebrated his first public Mass in Korea at a football stadium in Daejeon on Aug. 15, wearing a yellow ribbon -- in remembrance of the Sewol ferry disaster -- on his chest. He received it from a group of victims’ relatives and survivors.

Pope Francis also surprised many by speaking neither his native Spanish nor Italian, but English. When the pope admitted his command of English language by saying, “I have a great difficulty. I have poor English,” the audience shouted, “Nooooo!”

By Ro Ji-woong (jamesro@heraldcorp.com)