One Year to Go

With one year remaining before World Youth Day Seoul 2027 (August, 3-8, 2027) opens, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is moving preparations from groundwork to full implementation across international cooperation, pilgrim services, accommodation, transportation, safety, medical care and communications. At the same time, all Youth of the world is invited to participate and to be involved in this journey, by starting a spiritual pilgrimage and discovering all key milestones in the path toward Seoul.

Theme Song to be launched on August 3

The one-year countdown will be marked on August 3, 2026, with the World Premiere of the Official Theme Song on the official YouTube Channel (@WYDSeoul2027). The song was selected from 434 entries, including 294 from outside Korea. The winning composition, “Confidite, Ego Vici Mundum” (“Take courage! I have overcome the world”, in Latin), was written by Korean composer Francis Jiyoon Kim. Inspired by the official theme verse, it is intended to become a shared expression of faith for pilgrims and a defining musical symbol of WYD Seoul 2027.

Global Ecological Campaign

On the same day, the LOC will launch the Breath of Life Global Tree-Planting Campaign, inviting young people to plant trees in their own countries and share their participation online. Inspired by Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, and following what has been done in Portugal during the previous WYD in 2023, the campaign seeks to engage future pilgrims in practical ecological action, reduce the carbon footprint of their participation and create a legacy beyond 2027. It builds on a local initiative launched in 2025 with the Korea Forest Service and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

International pilgrim registration to open soon in the second half of 2026

Official registration is scheduled to open soon, in the second half of 2026. All information about the process will be available on the official website www.wydseoul.org.

On the official website, also, dioceses and groups of pilgrims from all over the world can find information about pilgrim packages - which will include accommodation, meals, transportation, insurance and the official pilgrim kit - in order to start their journey to Seoul.

Registrations of 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. Together, they will form the front line of Korea’s welcome to all pilgrims from around the world.

Abp. Peter Soon-taick Chung: The year ahead is time to complete preparations and welcome young people from every part of the world

The main events will take place in Seoul from August 3 to 8, 2027, bringing together hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world to the South Korean capital, in a pilgrimage and encounter among them, with the Church, and with the Holy Father. Before traveling to Seoul, international pilgrims will participate in the Days in the Dioceses from July 29 to August 2 in 15 dioceses across Korea, where they will stay with local communities and experience the faith and culture of the Church in Korea.

“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.”

WYD Seoul 2027 will be the second World Youth Day held in Asia, following Manila in 1995, and the first in a country where Christianity is a minority faith. The gathering will bring the Catholic Church worldwide into a distinctive encounter with Korea’s religiously and culturally diverse society.

From groundwork to implementation

Seoul was announced as the next World Youth Day host city at the closing of WYD Lisbon in August 2023. Since then, the LOC has established its organizing structure, celebrated the inaugural WYD Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral, unveiled the official theme “Take courage! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), selected by Pope Francis and the event logo, and announced Five Patron Saints for the 2027 gathering. Preparations accelerated in 2026 with the formation of the WYD Choir and Orchestra.

More on World Youth Days

WYD's international editions are a religious and cultural event that brings together hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world for about a week. WYD was born at the initiative of Saint John Paul II, after the success of the meeting promoted in 1985 in Rome in the International Year of Youth. The first edition took place in 1986 in Rome. WYD has passed through the following cities: Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Czestochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), Rome (2000), Toronto (2002), Cologne (2005), Sydney (2008), Madrid (2011), Rio de Janeiro (2013), Krakow (2016), Panama (2019) and Lisbon (2023).