Vatican reveals theme for World Youth Day 2027 in South Korea

Bishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee is auxiliary bishop of Seoul and general coordinator for WYD Seoul 2027. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Sep 24, 2024 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

The Vatican on Tuesday unveiled the theme of the next international World Youth Day — which will be in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027 — and the theme of the local World Youth Day happening during the Jubilee Year 2025 in Rome.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell also announced that in Rome on Nov. 24, the solemnity of Christ the King, participants in World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, will hand over the symbols of the international Catholic gathering — the youth cross and an icon of Mary Salus Populi Romani — to young people from Seoul during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“This is an evocative ‘passing of the baton’ that will mark the beginning of the Korean Church’s spiritual preparation for World Youth Day,” the prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life said at a press conference at the Vatican on Sept. 24.

‘Take Courage! I Have Overcome the World’

The theme of World Youth Day 2027 in South Korea (and in 2026) will be: “Take Courage! I Have Overcome the World,” taken from the Gospel of John 16:33.

Next year, World Youth Day will take place as part of the Jubilee Year celebrations in Rome, during the Jubilee of Youth from July 28–Aug. 3, 2025.

The theme for the mini World Youth Day 2025 will be “You Also Are My Witnesses, Because You Have Been With Me,” from John 15:27.

The Catholic Church has celebrated World Youth Day (WYD) since the event was first established by Pope John Paul II in 1985.

WYD is observed annually in local dioceses, but every several years there is a weeklong international celebration, typically in July or August, drawing hundreds of thousands of people. 

The themes for the next World Youth Days “are taken from the Gospel of John. They belong to what is known as Jesus’ ‘farewell discourse,’ when he prepares his disciples to experience the mystery of his passion and death in the certainty of his resurrection,” Farrell said.

Thematic focus

The two themes, the cardinal said, focus “on witnessing and on the courage that stems from Jesus’ paschal victory.”

The theme was chosen because the world we live in has become so secularized and “there is a great possibility that young people could lose their hope, could lose their courage to live their faith,” Farrell said.

WYD is an opportunity to encourage young people to evangelize through their lives and example, he said: “Don’t change people’s ways of living by preaching, do it by actual practice. That’s what young people are good at doing. It’s not the amount of knowledge they have but the testimony that they give.”

We can show young people, he continued, that “we can overcome the problems of the world today, but it takes courage to step forward.”

“Around 1,000 young Koreans are expected to travel to Rome in 2025 for the Jubilee of Youth,” Archbishop Peter Soon-Taick Chung, OCD, of Seoul said at the Sept. 24 press conference. The hope is “that through this pilgrimage, they will come to discern the empowering force of hope bestowed by faith and experience a profound personal encounter with Christ within the universal Church,” he said.

First WYD in predominantly non-Christian country

The archbishop of Seoul said WYD 2027 will be the first of these gatherings to take place in a predominantly non-Christian country.

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

A 2020 survey by a Korean research journal tracking recent religious demographic changes in the country found that now about 50% of South Koreans are nonreligious, while 32% are Protestant Christians and 16% are Buddhist.

“We definitely have concrete plans to include people from different religious backgrounds — and those who have no religion — to come together during our preparatory process,” the archbishop said.

Bishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee, an auxiliary bishop of Seoul and the general coordinator for WYD Seoul 2027, said Korea has a unique context from past WYD hosts, where the country was mainly Christian, because the Catholic Church in Korea is “characterized by the harmonious coexistence of diverse religious traditions.”

“Amid the persistent reality as a ‘divided nation,’ the Church has diligently worked to resolve the conflicts inherent in this division over the past seven decades, seeking peace and unity for the Korean people,” he said.

Soon-Taick said young North Koreans will be invited to and welcome at World Youth Day in Seoul, though the current political situation is unfortunately not favorable for their attendance. “Certainly we hope,” he said.

Whether Pope Francis will attend the international youth gathering is unknown at this time, and whether a visit to the country would include a stop in North Korea is dependent on an invitation from North Korea’s local leaders, Farrell explained.

Pope Francis visited South Korea in 2014. During the five-day trip, he beatified 124 Korean martyrs and took part in the sixth Asian Youth Day.

Charism of the Catholic Church in Korea

“The Korean Catholic Church stands as a testament to the voluntary and dynamic faith of its first believers, who embraced the seeds of the Gospel without the assistance of missionaries, guided by the Holy Spirit,” Soon-Taick said.

He added that “the pilgrimage of WYD Seoul 2027 will be more than just a large gathering. It will be a meaningful journey where young people, united with Jesus Christ, reflect on and discuss the modern challenges and injustices they face.”

“It will be a grand celebration, allowing everyone to experience the vibrant and energetic culture created by Korean youth,” he continued. “It will also be an opportunity to immerse in and share the dynamic and passionate culture that Korea’s youth have created.”

While organizers declined to give a number for an expected attendance at the South Korea World Youth Day, Farrell noted that attendance at World Youth Day in Lisbon in 2023 exceeded expectations.

He said they planned for approximately 750,000 participants but were unprepared for the estimated 1.5 million young people who ended up attending.

“I believe that there will be a similar surge of visitors and young people to World Youth Day in Seoul,” the cardinal said.