Preparations in full swing for 2027 World Youth Day in Seoul

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.

“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.”

“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.”