Within the framework of the Jubileo de La Esperanza, more than 30,000 young people from Seoul began their preparation for the World Youth Day (WYD) that will take place in the South Korean capital in 2027.
It was the Youth Festival Hee Hee Hee which was held on May 10 and 11 as part of the Vocations Sunday and the Jubilee Year and that included catechesis, a vigil, the closing Mass and the initiative “Talk with a religious”, so that the participants had informal conversations about the consecrated life.
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The event was organized by the Archdiocese of Seoul in collaboration with the local organizing committee of the BMJ Seoul 2027.
The South Korean archdiocese pointed out on your website that the festival focused on “the Korean characters of light, hope and joy.”
He explained that “to help participants to get involved completely with the central themes of the festival: faith, vocation and cheerful testimony, the entire space of the event was carefully divided into three interactive areas: the area of truth, the area of peace and the area of love.”
“Each area offered a different experience, reflecting different aspects of the Christian life and providing young people with multiple paths for a significant encounter with Christ, the Church and each other,” he said.
The Archbishop of Seoul, Mons. Peter Chung Soon-Taick, expressed during the Mass his desire that the festival “inspire younger to open their hearts to the call of the Lord already respond with courage and faith.”
“The Church thrives and bear fruit when it raises new vocations. In many ways, the world, perhaps without knowing it, longs for ‘Witnesses of hope’: those who testify with their lives to follow Christ is the source of true joy,” said the 3,500 people who attended the Eucharist.
“Let us maintain, then, firm in the certainty that the Lord calls us with an unconditional and enduring love, and pray fervently to send new workers to his abundant mine,” he said.
South Korea will be the second Asian country to host a World Youth Day. The first was the Philippines in 1995, with the event held the capital Manila.
According to the needy church (ACN), 11.3% of the more 51 million South Koreans are Catholics.
In his 2023 reportACN indicated that in the country “baptisms and vocations decrease, and increase the average age of the faithful. In previous years, the number of members of the Catholic Church had been increasing constantly. However, the Korean Catholic Church has more than a thousand missionaries throughout the world”.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.