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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”.
The theme for WYD 2027 was unveiled by the Holy See on 24 September 2024:
“Take courage! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Preparations are already underway. The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life has extended invitations to bishops and youth ministry offices worldwide to begin preparations for this pilgrimage of faith in the Far East.
The closing Mass of the Jubilee of Youth drew over one million young people from more than 140 countries. Pope Leo addressed them as “the sign that a different world is possible.”
