Pope Francis and the Korean Catholic Church

Pope Francis is going to South Korea in August where he will beatify 124 Korean martyrs. These Koreans "founded the Catholic Church with their blood." What's unique about the formation of the Catholic Church in Korea is that there were no missionaries that brought Catholicism to the country. Rather, it started with Yi Seung-Hun, a member of the ruling class, who learned about Catholicism in China and returned home with many books on the faith and evangelized his countrymen. He was also the first martyr in Korea.

The Bible: 5 Things You Need To Know About It

Everyone knows what the Bible is, right? Most likely, you own one, or if you're a real American, you own 4.5! Having one on the shelf is easy, but reading it…well, you know. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t read it; most people haven’t. 

Listed below are 5 things you should know about the one tome that has made its mark in human history and has changed the lives of a multitude of peoples from various times and cultures.

1. The Word “Bible” Means “Library”

The Bible is more than a collection of dust…It is a collection of books! The Bible is a book of books. That is what tà biblía means, “library” or “the books.” Not all of the books are of the same genre. Some books are narrative (the Gospels, Acts), poetry (Song of Songs, Job), prophecy (Isaiah, Jeremiah), letters (Pauline Epistles, Hebrews) and other various types of literature. There are 73 books in total (66 if you’re from a protestant tradition; 81 if you’re part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church). So yeah, there are different “collections” or Bibles out there.