Leo XIV announces that the WYD of South Korea will be from August 3 to 8, 2027

After the conclusive mass of the Jubilee of the Young people, held this morning in Tor Vergata before a million participants from 146 countries, Pope Leo XIV officially announced the next World Youth Day.

“After this jubilee, the pilgrimage of hope of young people continues and will take us to Asia,” proclaimed the pontiff during the angelus prayer.

“I renew the invitation that Pope Francis addressed to the young people two years ago,” he added in reference to Lisbon’s appointment.

“Young people from all over the world will meet with the successor of Pedro to celebrate the World Youth Day in Seoul, Korea, from August 3 to 8, 2027, under the motto: ‘Hold Value, I have defeated the world,’ ‘said the Pope who also stressed that this new edition of the WYD will mark an important stage in the path of faith of the new generations:

Thus he assured that the “hope that lives in our hearts gives us strength to announce the victory of the risen Christ over evil and death.”

Leo XIV concluded his intervention with a strong missionary call: “Of this you will witness to the confines of the Earth. Cike in Seoul! Let’s continue dreaming together, let’s continue waiting together.” The WYD of 2027 will be the first to be held in South Korea and the second in Asia, after the historic edition of Manila (Philippines) in 1995.

In addition, the pontiff defined the jubilee of the young people who started the past today and has concluded this Sunday as “a cascade of grace for the church and for the entire world, and has been thanks to the participation of each of you.”

The Holy Father expressed his gratitude to the young “one by one, with all his heart” for his testimony and enthusiasm during these retired days.

In a gesture of shock and closeness, he entrusted the Lord to Mary and Pascale, “the two pilgrims, one Spanish and the other Egyptian, who have left us these days,” referring to his death during the pilgrimage.

In English, the Pope reminded the young people who suffer “in each land wounded by war”, and mentioned in a special way “the youth of Gaza and Ukraine”, whose lives are marked by the violence and uncertainty of war.

Leo XIV also spoke in Spanish to pay tribute to the testimony of those present with words of hope: “You are the sign that a different world is possible.” And he concluded in Italian with an affirmation full of faith: “Yes, with Christ it is possible: with his love, his forgiveness, the strength of his spirit.”