Pope Leo XIV will visit Korea for the Seoul World Youth Day (WYD), which will be held in July 2027.
The Seoul WYD organizing committee (hereafter the committee) announced the basic plan for Seoul WYD at a briefing on the 27th at the Omnibus Park convention hall on the Sungsim campus of the Catholic University of Korea in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
WYD is an event that officially began the following year to commemorate the establishment of "World Youth Day" in 1985 during the pontificate of Saint John Paul II, where the pope visits countries around the world to meet young people.
Seoul WYD will run for 10 nights and 11 days from July 29 to Aug. 8, 2027. The events from July 29 to Aug. 2 will be diocesan days across 15 dioceses nationwide, and the events from Aug. 3 to 8 will be held across Seoul in the form of the main gathering.
The committee is reviewing plans to hold the opening Mass on Aug. 3 and the papal welcome event on Aug. 5 at Sangam World Cup Stadium and Gwanghwamun Square. The opening Mass is expected to be celebrated by Archbishop Jeong Sun-taek with cardinals and bishops from more than 160 countries in attendance.
For the climax of the event, the overnight vigil on Aug. 7 and the sending Mass on Aug. 8 are being discussed with Olympic Park and Yeouido Hangang Park among the candidate sites.
During the overnight vigil, registered and unregistered participants, Catholic faithful, and nonbelievers interested in the event will gather in one place. The sending Mass will be presided over by the pope, who will bless all young people around the world.
Pope Leo XIV is mentioned as likely to visit around Aug. 5. Typically, the pope attends a welcome event on the day of arrival. The specific schedule is expected to be announced later by the Holy See.
According to the committee, the number of participants in the 2027 Seoul WYD is expected to reach 200,000 to 500,000 for the opening Mass and 700,000 to 1 million for the sending Mass.
Seoul WYD is meaningful in that it will be held for the first time in history in a divided nation. It is also the first time it will be held in a non-Christian country where various religions coexist.
As a large-scale event with up to 1 million participants, the committee expects Seoul WYD to generate an output-inducing effect of 2.07 trillion to 3.15 trillion won. The value-added effect is projected at 910 billion to 1.37 trillion won, and the employment effect at 11,000 to 16,000 jobs.