2027 Seoul World Youth Day to Welcome Pope in Sangam... Closing Mass Expected to Draw 1 Million

[Financial News] A welcoming event for Pope Leo XIV will be held next August in the area around Seoul World Cup Stadium in Sangam-dong. The organizing committee for the 2027 Seoul World Youth Day (WYD) is working to hold the closing event, the sending Mass, at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. It expects 1 million people, including unregistered attendees, to gather.
The organizing committee held a press briefing on the 5th at Coste Hall in the Myeongdong Cathedral Cultural Center, Jung District, Seoul, and announced its plans for the event. It will be the first World Youth Day in Asia in 32 years, since the 1995 event in Manila, Philippines, and the first to be held in a country where Christianity is a minority religion.■ Participants expected from 190 countries... Exchanges across 15 dioceses nationwideBishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee, the organizing committee’s overall coordinator, said he expects at least 400,000 overseas pilgrims from about 190 countries to attend. Group registration began on the 22nd of last month, and the number of applicants counted through the evening of the 4th stood at 81,820.
The main event will take place Aug. 3–8 next year. The opening Mass on the 3rd, the papal welcoming event on the 5th and the Stations of the Cross on the 6th will be held in the area around Seoul World Cup Stadium. The organizing committee has proposed Seoul Air Base as the venue for the overnight prayer vigil on the 7th and the sending Mass on the 8th.
Bishop Lee said the guiding principle in choosing the venues was “to minimize the impact on citizens.” He explained that Sangam was selected after taking into account the inconvenience that would result from restricting access to the area around Gwanghwamun for several days, where Pope Francis celebrated a beatification Mass in 2014.
He cited the venue’s capacity and security arrangements as reasons for proposing Seoul Air Base. Bishop Lee said, “The government cannot yet say that it has been finally confirmed, but preparations are coming together almost as if that were the case.”
The plan is to set up rest stops offering drinks along the walking route from the subway station to Seoul Air Base. The organizing committee has told participants who will sleep outdoors at the venue after the overnight vigil to bring sleeping bags and mats.
Before that, diocesan events will be held from July 29 to August 2 in 15 dioceses nationwide, excluding Seoul. Overseas pilgrims will stay with Catholic families or at churches and interact with local residents.
In his opening remarks, Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick, chair of the organizing committee and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seoul, said, “In an era of disconnection, what we need is the courage to meet and the courage to welcome.” Later, in response to a reporter’s question, he said the organizers were envisioning a program where young people of different religions could meet the pope, and were also preparing a joint statement expressing the willingness of leaders of the country’s seven major religions to cooperate with the event.
Anyone can attend the major liturgical events for free without registering. The organizing committee plans to provide a separate area for unregistered attendees.
The briefing also unveiled a video message of support from actress Kim Tae-hee, an ambassador for the event, as well as its official mascots: Hobi the tiger and Kobi the lion.■ Plans to secure shared accommodations... Preparing for heatwaves and crowdsThe organizing committee plans to provide lodging for 270,000 people through 217 churches in the Archdiocese of Seoul and homestays, and for another 230,000 at schools, public facilities and other venues. Kim Jang-yeol, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s International Event Support Division, said he would identify potential accommodation sites, including district gymnasiums and auditoriums, by the end of the year.
Kim expressed concern about holding the event in midsummer and mentioned the possibility of adjusting the schedule. Bishop Lee replied that delaying it would mean “we wouldn’t be able to use school facilities.” He explained that the event coincides with the period when schools are preparing to reopen and that the schedule has already been announced overseas.
The organizing committee will set up cooling shelters and water stations and deploy medical staff. It will use simulations to identify areas where crowds may gather, and monitor crowd density on site using CCTV and artificial intelligence (AI).
Accessible routes without steps will be provided for pilgrims with disabilities, and sign-language interpretation and subtitles will be available for major programs. Shuttle buses that local residents can also use will be provided.
The organizing committee will establish criteria for scaling back, suspending or resuming events in the event of severe weather, and plans to announce its decisions through the pilgrim app and multilingual broadcasts.

[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter