Ahead of World Youth Day Seoul 2027, Fides news agency is publishing a series of articles to tell the story of South Korea, its places and martyrs, its young people and their experiences, through the voices gathered, the people encountered and the places visited in the “Land of the Morning Calm”.
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by Pascale Rizk
Seoul – Preparations for World Youth Day Seoul 2027 are about more than organizing a major international event. For the Church in Korea, they also represent an opportunity to strengthen cooperation among dioceses, involve smaller communities and turn renewed attention towards its own young people.
At the heart of the organizational “mobilization” is the task of welcoming pilgrims who will arrive from all over the world. Yet the journey towards this large-scale event also offers a valuable opportunity to reach out to the many young Koreans who often find themselves on the margins of ecclesial life. This is also the perspective of Father Giustino Choi Inbi, Executive Secretary of the Days in the Diocese Committee for Youth Ministry of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea , who spoke to Fides News Agency.
A shared journey among the dioceses
How are you coordinating preparations in the different dioceses in Korea?
Our experience of previous World Youth Days has taught us a great deal. We encountered dioceses that were very well prepared, while others found it more difficult to navigate the process and understand what activities were planned. For this reason, we wanted to establish a shared path from the beginning. Diocesan representatives met to agree on common criteria, including the basic structure of the programs and the timetable. We meet regularly and maintain constant contact through a KakaoTalk group, where we can clarify doubts, put forward proposals and discuss any difficulties that arise.
There are also significant differences between local contexts in Korea. Our aim is not to eliminate these differences, but to bring them into harmony, so that each diocese can offer its own contribution as part of a national journey.
What tools have you put in place to make it easier for pilgrims to take part in the Days in the Diocese?
We have created a dedicated joint website for the Days in the Diocese, where visitors can consult the various proposals and submit requests to participate. We are also continuing to receive requests by telephone and email.
The dioceses vary considerably in size. Incheon, for example, is preparing events with a capacity of around 10,000 seats available, while Daejeon has approximately 2,000 places. We want to help groups identify where places are available, rather than encourage comparisons between larger and smaller dioceses. It is a tool designed to foster cooperation and ensure that the responsibility of welcoming pilgrims is shared more effectively.
How are you supporting communities with fewer resources?
Larger communities can rely on staff, communications facilities and financial resources that smaller ones do not always have. The joint website was also conceived as a way of narrowing this gap: rather than asking each diocese to manage everything independently, we are providing shared tools to present the initiatives of the Church in Korea.
Financial support is a sensitive issue, but the Archdiocese of Seoul has expressed its willingness to provide assistance should difficulties arise during the preparations. Our intention is to ensure that differences in resources do not prevent any community from participating fully.
An opportunity to meet young people who are “distant”
How can preparations for World Youth Day engage young people who are distant from the Church or facing difficult circumstances?
This is one of the central issues of our work. The youth ministry handbook published in 2021 stresses that our attention must not be limited to young people who regularly attend church. We are called to accompany those we encounter in society, in the various circumstances of their lives.
This applies in particular to young people from multicultural families, regardless of whether they are believers. We do not want to consider them solely through the category of immigration: they are young people, our neighbors and brothers and sisters to be cared for.
We are also preparing guidelines to help priests develop this pastoral sensitivity. A number of diocesan and religious priests are already seeking out new places of encounter within society, including through initiatives offering food at very affordable prices.
Preparations for WYD must begin here. It is not enough to get ready to welcome those arriving from abroad; we must also recognize and reach out to those who are already living alongside us.
What spiritual emphasis is guiding the organizational preparations?
Hospitality and encounter are the two guiding principles we are emphasizing most. In dioceses and parishes, we are offering ongoing formation to help people recognize their neighbors, draw closer to them and allow themselves to be touched by their presence.
We often refer to the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and to the image in the Book of Revelation, of Jesus knocking at the door. Preparing for WYD also means asking ourselves whether we are willing to open that door in our own lives.
This applies to collaborators, host families and entire communities. It is not simply a matter of organizing a successful stay for pilgrims, but of orienting our own lives of faith towards greater openness. Encountering young people can become an encounter with Jesus.
Families and the experience of hospitality
How are communities responding to the invitation to host pilgrims?
The response has been very encouraging. We Koreans may initially be somewhat reserved, but we also know how to be warm and affectionate: once we decide to open our doors, we do so generously.
In Jeju, where the initial plan was to welcome around 2,000 people, the number of families volunteering to host pilgrims has already exceeded that figure.
In our small parish of Ganghwa, in the Diocese of Incheon, a community of around thirty families is preparing to welcome approximately seventy young people.
These examples show how WYD can become a tangible opportunity to open our hearts. We are not asking families to give their guests religious lessons. Rather, we emphasize the importance of encounter, sharing everyday life and hospitality.
The registration of host families is progressing well, and the faithful are showing great participation.
How will the distinctive features of each diocese be valued and highlighted?
The Days in the Diocese will involve a four-night, five-day experience. Each diocese is preparing its own program, seeking to enhance the particular characteristics of its local community.
The common framework is intended to ensure a coherent overall journey, while leaving room for the different realities of the Church in Korea. For pilgrims, this will also be an opportunity to discover areas that are less frequently visited by foreign visitors, who often concentrate their stays mainly in Seoul and Busan.
Overcoming language barriers
How are you preparing to communicate with young people from all over the world?
Language is one of our main challenges. The arrival of pilgrims also represents an opportunity to improve information services in the various regions, making them more accessible to those who do not speak Korean.
We are also preparing to use an application already available that allows users to select their preferred language. The aim is to enable groups, parishes and dioceses to publish announcements in Korean, while participants can consult them in the language they have chosen.
These are important tools, but they do not capture the full meaning of communication. I remember our experience in Poland: many young Koreans did not speak Polish, yet they were able to share meals, pray alongside elderly people and build deeply affectionate relationships.
Language matters, but faith and human closeness can open up possibilities that go beyond words.
Do you expect the experiences and encounters of Seoul 2027 to leave a lasting mark on the hearts of young Koreans?
Many young people and adolescents grow up in a highly materialistic and competitive environment, where they constantly feel under pressure to measure themselves against others and achieve results.
We would like WYD to offer them a different kind of experience, through prayer, encounter and sharing. I hope that what they experience will leave a deeper mark, more than we can imagine or predict.
I hope that what they experience will leave a lasting impression, more so than we can imagine or foresee and help them not to focus all their interests and energies solely on themselves, but to look beyond themselves, towards others.
Jesus’ message, who conquered the world, also invites us to recognize a different standard from that of success and competition. This is the perspective we are seeking to share with our young people throughout the preparations: not simply to take part in an event, but to allow ourselves to be transformed by encounter.
The diocesan phase will take place from 29 July to 2 August 2027 in fifteen dioceses outside Seoul. The main events of World Youth Day 2027 will then be held in the capital from 3 to 8 August.
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