Preparations in full swing for 2027 World Youth Day in Seoul
By Isabella H. de Carvalho
With one year to go until World Youth Day Seoul 2027, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is hard at work as it is moving preparations from groundwork to full implementation across all sectors, including international cooperation, pilgrim services, accommodation, transportation, safety, medical care and communications.
World Youth Day (WYD) occurs every couple of years and gathers together millions of young Catholics, and the 2027 edition will be held in the South Korean capital, Seoul, from August 3 to 8. It will be the second WYD to take place in Asia – following the 1995 one in Manila – and the first in a country where Christianity is a minority faith.
“Over the past three years, we have concentrated on laying the foundations for the event,” said Archbishop Peter Soon-taick Chung of Seoul, President of the LOC.
“The year ahead will be the time to complete our preparations and welcome young people from every part of the world. We will do everything possible to make WYD Seoul 2027 a celebration of hope and a witness to the hospitality and solidarity of Korea and Seoul.”
Walk alongside young people towards Seoul
“With one year to go until the start of World Youth Day Seoul 2027,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, “the young people who will be travelling to Korea alongside their pastors are increasingly at the heart of the preparations for the event.”
“Over its forty-year history,” he emphasized, “World Youth Day has been progressively enriched thanks to the faith, enthusiasm, and active participation of young people and the local Churches.”
“I therefore renew my invitation to the Bishops and those responsible for youth ministry throughout the world to walk alongside young people towards Seoul 2027, making the most of these resources in their preparation, and helping them to experience the pilgrimage as an authentic experience of faith, ecclesial communion, and a personal encounter with Jesus".
The theme song and a tree planting initiative
The one-year countdown, occurring next Monday, August 3, 2026, will be marked by the release of the official theme song on the WYD Seoul 2027 YouTube Channel. The song was chosen out of 434 entries sent in, including 294 from outside Korea.
The winning composition is called “Confidite, Ego Vici Mundum” – “Take courage! I have overcome the world” in Latin, which is also the verse from the Gospel of John that was chosen as the theme of this WYD. It was written by Korean composer Francis Jiyoon Kim.
Cardinal Farrell noted how the theme song – along with the already released official prayer and the five patron saints of the event – are important “pastoral tools that will help young people prepare themselves spiritually for the 2027 event.”
On August 3, the LOC will also launch the Breath of Life Tree-Planting Campaign, which encourages young people to plant trees in their countries and share their participation online. It builds on a local initiative launched in 2025 with the Korea Forest Service and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
This initiative is inspired by Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Laudato Sì, and a similar campaign had been done for the previous WYD, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023. Almost 18,000 trees were planted by the time the WYD had begun on August 1, 2023.
Registration to open soon
Official registration for pilgrims is scheduled to open in the second half of 2026, and all the information about packages and how to plan their journey will be available on the official website.
Registration for volunteers will also open in the second half of 2026. A total of 378 volunteers are already participating in preparations. Recruitment of volunteers in Korea and overseas will begin with pilgrim registration, supported by training, spiritual formation and psychological care. Over 25,000 volunteers participated in the Lisbon WYD in 2023.
Before travelling to Seoul for the main events, the young people will also participate in the “Days in the Dioceses” from July 29 to August 2 in 15 dioceses across Korea. They will stay with local communities and experience the faith and culture of the Church in Korea.
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