Seoul WYD Organizing Committee Accelerates Preparations; Homestay and Volunteer Planning Shifts into High Gear. Report from the Catholic Times.

 This is a beautiful sign that demonstrates the universality of the Church and reveals the dream of unity to which you have all borne witness.” Pope Francis announced Seoul, South Korea, as the host city for the next WYD during the closing Mass of WYD Lisbon, Portugal, on August 6, 2023. It was the moment a new journey began—one where young people from around the world would gather in Korea to share their faith and lives.

The 2027 Seoul WYD is now just one year away. Preparations, which have focused on laying the groundwork for organization and cooperation, are now entering a phase of concretizing the participation of global youth and the prayer, service, and hospitality of the Korean Church. Marking the D-365 milestone, Seoul WYD moves beyond mere preparation to embark on the actual journey of encounter.

After establishing the Seoul WYD Organizing Committee in December 2023, the Archdiocese of Seoul has gradually expanded and reorganized its structure. Currently, the committee operates through three main headquarters and is preparing for the event in collaboration with the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. A foundation has also been launched to handle external cooperation, legal matters, and financial affairs.

In July 2024, the official start of preparations was marked by a Mass and ceremony at Myeongdong Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Seoul. The WYD Cross and the Icon of Our Lady—received from Portuguese youth in November of the same year—began a nationwide tour of dioceses in 2025 to meet with the faithful.

Dioceses across the country have also formed their own organizing committees for the "Days in the Diocese" (DID) program. This summer, they are hosting "Pre-DID" events to offer a preview of next year’s diocesan gatherings. These events serve to flesh out the details of the diocesan gatherings through activities such as inviting youth from overseas dioceses, arranging homestays, organizing pilgrimages to holy sites, and facilitating cultural exchanges. International promotional efforts are also underway, including "Outreach Invitations," where organizers visit young people abroad to personally invite them to Seoul.

Having established this foundation of organization and cooperation, the Seoul WYD is now entering a phase—marked by the "D-365" milestone—where citizens and the faithful can directly experience the event's content and programs, and where participation plans for pilgrims from around the world begin to materialize.

The official theme song for Seoul WYD is titled *Confidite, Ego Vici Mundum*. The title is derived from the Latin phrase of the event’s theme scripture: "Take courage; I have conquered the world" (John 16:33). The song translates the message of courage and hope found in this scripture into music that young people across the globe can sing together.

Pilgrim registration will begin in October. Historically, the Pope has been the first to register, signaling the start of the pilgrim registration process for the event.

Prior to this, the Organizing Committee released details of the participant packages on the WYD website. Participants can choose from packages tailored to their schedules and needs, such as Type A (full-week program), Type B (weekend program), and Type C (focused on the overnight prayer vigil and closing Mass).

Character And Ability!

"Do students with excellent academic abilities possess outstanding character?" While one cannot deny the probability that superior intellect leads to outstanding character, one cannot conclude that the two are directly proportional.  So begins an article in the Gospel of Life in the Korean Catholic Peace Weekly by a pastor in the Gwangju Diocese.

 Leadership that elicits active consent from members based on trust—winning the hearts of others—is a capability of a different dimension than intellect or character. "Humans who cannot have everything" must seek harmony and balance through communication aimed at preserving strengths and overcoming weaknesses, acknowledging weaknesses rather than boasting of strengths.

Everyone is open to the "treasures of life" (health, relationships, wealth, honor, etc.). Humans strive, whether actively or passively, to maintain the treasures they "already" possess and to acquire those they "do not yet" have. These treasures vary depending on disposition and background, and they change fluidly according to generations and circumstances. 

The treasures of life have three characteristics. First, there is only one diverse and ever-changing treasure for each person here and now. Other treasures are pushed down in priority.  For example, one whose treasure is health must control their passion for relationships and their obsession with success. Second, there is a fixed quantity of the treasures of life. Even if a treasure is precious in itself, if it exceeds its capacity, it becomes an impurity that must be filtered out. For example, one whose treasure is relationships must wisely filter out the fatigue and wounds stemming from those relationships.  And often provides the opportunity to obtain other treasures as a bonus. But one whose treasure is wealth realizes only later that the health and family they neglected for the sake of economic success are the true treasures.

These three characteristics of treasure are reflected in the three parables about the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 13. The "merchant who found a pearl of great value" liquidates all his assets to obtain that single pearl. The "fisherman who caught a net full of fish" breaks free from the desire to possess everything, sorts the catch to take the proper quantity (the good ones), and lets the rest go. "The man who found the treasure hidden in the field" purchases the field where the treasure is buried. It is not "the treasure separately, the field separately," but "one treasure, the entire field." This signifies an affirmation of other treasures latent within the field. 

Solomon, who ascended the throne at a young age after many twists and turns and is credited with leading the Israelite people to a golden age of peace and prosperity, asked God for "discernment" at the time he was about to fully perform his royal duties, rather than longevity, wealth, or victory. To Solomon, who had asked for only one treasure, God promised, "I will give you what you did not ask for—namely, wealth and honor". This is a prime example of how humans, who must give up one thing to gain another, often receive as a bonus what they had given up. 

The Apostle Paul intensely experienced God's calling during the "dramatic conversion in Damascus." This calling asks us to treat the life that He will create and save as a treasure, just as the person who bought the field as a treasure because of the treasure hidden in it, because of God who ‘works all things together for good’ in ways that humans cannot grasp (cf. Romans 8:28).