By Anna Kim  

At the conclusion of the Holy Mass for World Youth Day, Pope Francis expressed his deep gratitude for every person who made “this grace-filled event” possible and announced South Korea as the next WYD site in 2027.
Pope Francis announced on Aug. 6 at the end of the 37th Lisbon event in Portugal that the World Youth Day, the largest faith festival for Catholics, will be held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027.

Catholic World Youth Day was last held in Manila, the Philippines in 1995 in Asia, and millions of believers attended the event under the leadership of Pope John Paul II.

The Lisbon festival lasted five days, and 1.5 million people gathered in Lisbon Square on the morning of Aug. 6. Portugal has a total population of about 10.5 million.

On this day, Pope, 86, did not mention his participation in the Seoul competition four years later, but instead emphasized the fact that Catholic Youth Jambori will be held in Rome in 2025.

Half a century ago, the Catholic population accounted for only 1% of the total population in Korea, but now it reaches 10% with a total population of 50 million, and more than 100,000 people are baptized every year.

The World Youth Congress was founded in 1984 by Pope John Paul II and is held every two to four years on the continent. Hundreds of thousands of Catholic youths from all over the world are attending every event.

Millions of people will participate and the pope will attend in person. 350,000 people from 145 countries around the world officially participated in the Lisbon competition, which took place from August 1 to 6, and 1.5 million people attended the dispatch mass on Aug. 6. Seoul is the first time that the World Youth Congress has been held in Asia since the Manila Games in 1995.

The Korean Catholic Church has dispatched 10 bishops, including Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung and Archbishop Chung Soon-taek, the head of the Seoul Archdiocese, to the Lisbon Convention. "I sincerely thank Pope Francis for choosing 'Seoul, Korea' as the next venue," said Archbishop Chung Soon-taek, head of the Seoul Archdiocese. "I am very happy and honored to meet young people around the world in Seoul."

With the hosting of the 2027 World Youth Congress, the Pope is expected to visit Korea for the first time in 13 years. Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984 and 1989, and Pope Francis also visited Korea in 2014