At the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Youth held at the University of Rome’s Tor Vergata campus on 3 August 2025, Pope Leo XIV formally announced that World Youth Day 2027 will take place in Seoul, South Korea, from 3 to 8 August.
This will mark the first occasion that Korea hosts the global gathering, and only the second time the event has been held in Asia—following the 1995 Manila celebration—while being the first ever in a Christian‑minority country.
Invoking the Angelus before announcing the dates at Tor Vergata, Pope Leo renewed Pope Francis’s previous invitation extended in Lisbon in 2023, adding: “You, young pilgrims of hope, will be witnesses of this to the ends of the earth! I look forward to seeing you in Seoul”.
