DAEJEON, South Korea

Pope Francis urged Catholic youth today to renounce the materialism that afflicts much of Asian society today and reject “inhuman” economic systems that disenfranchise the poor, pressing his economic agenda in one of the region’s powerhouses where financial gain is a key barometer of success.

Francis received a boisterous welcome from tens of thousands of young Asians as he celebrated his first public Mass in South Korea, a country with a small but growing church that is seen by the Vatican as a model for the rest of the world.

Francis took a high-speed train from Seoul to the central city of Daejeon, where Catholic youths have been meeting for the Asian version of World Youth Day. In his homily, Francis urged the participants to be a source of renewal and hope for society.

“May they combat the allure of a materialism that stifles authentic spiritual and cultural values and the spirit of unbridled competition which generates selfishness and strife,” Francis said in Italian that was translated into Korean. “May they also reject inhuman economic models which create new forms of poverty and marginalize workers.”