Pope announces dates for 2027 WYD in South Korea

ROME— Pope Leo XIV on Sunday formally announced that the next World Youth Day in Seoul, South Korea, will be held from August 3 to 8, 2027.

The announcement came at the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, which drew about a million young pilgrims to the Eternal City for a weeklong celebration of faith, culminating in a Mass led by the pope at Tor Vergata.

“After this jubilee, the ‘pilgrimage of hope’ of young people continues and will take us to Asia,” the pope said in a message, before praying the Angelus at Tor Vergata field, 10 miles east of Rome.

“I renew the invitation that Pope Francis extended in Lisbon two years ago,” he added, referring to WYD in Lisbon, Portugal in 2023.

The theme of the next WYD is taken from the Gospel of John — the verse recalling Jesus’ words to his disciples at the Last Supper: “Take courage! I have overcome the world.”

“It is precisely the hope that dwells in our hearts that gives us the strength to proclaim the victory of the risen Christ over evil and death,” Pope Leo said.

“And you, young pilgrims of hope, will be witnesses of this to the ends of the earth! I look forward to seeing you in Seoul: let us continue to dream together and to hope together,” he added.

South Korea will become the second Asian country to host World Youth Day, following the Philippines in 1995.

The closing papal Mass in Manila that year was estimated to have drawn more than 5 million people, a record for the event.

South Korea has nearly 6 million Catholics, about 11% of the population, according to 2022 statistics from the country’s Catholic bishops’ conference.

The Archdiocese of Seoul estimates that 700,000 to 1 million people could participate in the 2027 event, including 200,000 to 300,000 international pilgrims. (Roy Lagarde/CBCP News)

A version of this article was first published by CBCP News.