Official Theme Song for 2027 Seoul World Youth Day Unveiled

Official Theme Song for 2027 Seoul World Youth Day (WYD) Unveiled

Incorporating traditional Korean melodies and the faith of martyrs with a message of hope for youth; available in both classical and pop versions.

Foreign media describes it as "a song of fellowship connecting global youth and a pastoral tool."

On August 3—exactly one year before the event's opening—the 2027 Seoul WYD Organizing Committee released the official theme song, *Confidite, Ego Vici Mundum* ("Take courage, I have conquered the world"), composed by Kim Ji-yoon (Francisco), via its official YouTube channel. The song was produced in two versions: a classical version featuring the majestic resonance of choir and orchestra, and a pop version arranged to be more accessible for young people to sing.

The song was selected from 434 entries submitted during a global competition. With 140 entries from Korea and 294 from abroad, Kim’s composition was chosen following a preliminary review by the Organizing Committee and a final evaluation by the Holy See’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. It transforms the event’s theme verse—"Take courage. I have conquered the world" (John 16:33)—into music that young people across the globe can sing and remember together.

The song begins with Korean lyrics: "You and I, following the light that rose in the east, awaken our slumbering hearts and begin to walk." The song continues with the lyrics, "You are the light of the world; illuminate each other's paths," conveying a message of walking forward with hope despite fear and uncertainty. The chorus repeats the event's theme scripture in Latin, professing the faith that Christ has already conquered the world.

International Catholic media outlets highlighted the song's reflection of the Korean Church's history and its message to today's youth. They paid particular attention to lyrics beginning with "Light rising from the East" and the inclusion of traditional Korean musical elements. The song is praised for successfully highlighting the host country's cultural identity while offering a melody that young people from around the world can sing together across different languages and musical styles.

Vatican News predicted that the theme song would not only accompany young people from around the world during the preparations for the event but also serve as a "memory for a generation," keeping the spirit of their encounters, prayers, and faith experiences alive long after the gathering concludes. It was described as a "song of communion" that blends various languages and Korean melodies, uniting young people across nationalities and cultures through a shared faith

Immediately following its release, the official music video and the premiere footage drew a flood of comments expressing anticipation and support for the Seoul World Youth Day (WYD). One netizen wrote, "I am deeply moved and thrilled that the World Youth Day is being held in our country," and prayed for abundant grace to be bestowed upon young people worldwide. Another expressed hope that the event would allow young Korean volunteers to play a central role as well. Many also offered prayers of gratitude and encouragement for the song's creators and the event organizers.

The main event of the 2027 Seoul WYD will take place in Seoul from August 3 to 8, 2027. Prior to this, from July 29 to August 2, 15 dioceses across the country—excluding Seoul—will host "Diocesan Days" to welcome pilgrims from around the globe. This marks the second time the event is being held in Asia, following the 1995 Manila, Philippines gathering, and the first time it is taking place in a country where Christianity is not the majority religion.

Seoul WYD

 

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).

Magnificent Humanity

Nobel laureates, religious leaders, and artificial intelligence experts have hailed Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural encyclical, 'Magnifica Humanitas' ("Noble Humanity"), as a clear call to prevent a nuclear war driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Reported in the World Church Column of the Korean Catholic Times.

After holding the "Global Conference on AI and Nuclear War" at the *Laudato Si'* School in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, from July 14 to 16, a group including some twenty Nobel laureates gathered at the Campidoglio in Rome on July 16. There, they signed the "Rome Declaration on Unarmed Peace and Disarming Peace for the Age of AI, Nuclear and Autonomous Weapons, New Digital Norms, and Emerging Digital Development Models." The Rome Declaration calls for the conclusion of an international treaty banning the use of AI in nuclear weapon launch systems.

High-ranking Vatican officials also attended the global conference, including Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, former Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva; Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica; and Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome. Former heads of state also participated in the conference. Arthur McDonald, a Canadian astrophysicist and 2015 Nobel laureate in Physics, stated at the closing press conference that "many scientists have welcomed the Pope's encyclical as a document for humanity," adding that "the Pope is in a unique position to warn the world about the risks posed by AI alongside the persistent threat of nuclear weapons."

Maria Ressa, a Filipino journalist and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, remarked, "I highly value the Pope's leadership regarding the threat of nuclear weapons and his courage in highlighting the moral challenges posed by AI," noting that "scientists, too, are now gathering in faith."

James Muller, an American cardiologist and co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)—an organization that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985—described the Pope’s criticism of the new arms race in Chapter 5 of the encyclical *Fratelli Tutti* (On Fraternity and Social Friendship) as a "huge step forward."

The "Rome Call," comprising six points, begins by stating that "humanity is facing a decisive moment as the nuclear age and the AI ​​age converge," and points out that "humanity has failed to prevent the state of nuclear fear that has persisted since the development of atomic weapons."

The "Rome Call" emphasizes the need for an international treaty to ensure that automated systems never make the final decision to launch nuclear weapons and to guarantee meaningful human control over such decisions. It also calls on AI developers to disclose the principles guiding their models' decision-making and to accept responsibility for them. Furthermore, it explicitly states that fully automated or self-improving AI systems that cannot be monitored by corporations or governments must not be developed. Cardinal Ravasi emphasized, “The ‘Rome Call’ makes it clear that no machine, algorithm, or autonomous system should make decisions that affect human survival,” adding that “decisions regarding life and death, peace and war, and the future of nations and generations yet unborn must remain entirely under responsible and meaningful human control.”

'Hope: Anchor of the Soul'

Asking St. Thomas Aquinas About the Path to Happiness through Hope: Overcoming Despair in the Teaching of St. Thomas by the Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Korea.

Hope: A spiritual vaccine for tasting true happiness, prescribed by God’s grace.

God’s faithfulness is unchanging; thus, hope becomes an "anchor of the soul" that sustains the wayfarer amidst trials. *Allegory of Hope* by Gottfried Maas depicts hope as a woman holding an anchor and turning toward God. 

According to the *Inferno* section of Dante’s *Divine Comedy*, the chilling phrase "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" is inscribed at the gates of Hell. This declaration defines Hell not merely as a place of physical torment, but as a "closed space" completely stripped of opportunity, forgiveness, and the possibility of change.

The term "Hell Joseon," used to criticize Korean society, encapsulates these very characteristics of Hell. A reality where uncertainty about the future erodes conviction, and where individual effort crashes against structural barriers only to turn into cynicism and pessimism, starkly illustrates the "absence of hope" facing modern people. This state goes beyond mere psychological withdrawal; it leads to the destruction of human dignity. This is because a person stripped of hope loses the drive to align their actions with an ultimate purpose, effectively becoming a prisoner confined within the walls of the present.

In the face of such a crisis, examining Thomas Aquinas’s theology of hope offers essential guidance for distinguishing between worldly desires and true expectation, thereby allowing us to reset the direction of our lives. Aquinas does not reduce hope to mere vague optimism or emotional comfort. Instead, he interprets it as a powerful, practical force that enables humans to transcend their finitude and move toward the ultimate good.

Modern individuals, trapped by socio-structural limitations, have lost both their sense of dignity and the momentum to look toward the future.

Only by shaking off the vices of despair and presumption—and by orienting ourselves toward the "Good"—can we find hope and safeguard our happiness.

In defining the essence of hope, Aquinas strictly distinguishes between hope as a *passion* (a simple emotional state) and hope as a *virtue* (a habit). Hope as a passion is merely an instinctive anticipation of a future good and is morally neutral; however, hope as a 'theological virtue' is in a higher order that renders a person good by aligning their actions with a divine standard. 

According to Aquinas, four elements must be met for hope to exist: the object must be good, it must lie in the future, it must be difficult to attain, and yet it must be possible. 

Of these, the element that warrants particular attention is that it must be "difficult." Thomas held that while a good easily attained is merely an object of simple desire, only a good achieved by overcoming obstacles elevates the human soul to the realm of virtue. Such difficulties compel humans to confront their own limitations and inspire the courageous struggle to transcend them through hope.

Furthermore, hope—as a theological virtue—differs fundamentally from secular optimism in that the basis for its possibility lies not in human calculation or ability, but in "divine assistance." The ultimate object of hope is God Himself and eternal happiness. It offers the assurance of a perfect good that transcends the fleeting comforts of earthly life.

Hope: Path to Happiness

 

Asking St. Thomas Aquinas About the Path to Happiness: Through Hope: Overcoming an Era of Despair: text by the Professor in the  Department of Philosophy, at the  Catholic University of Korea.
 

Hope: A spiritual vaccine for tasting true happiness, prescribed by God’s grace
God’s faithfulness is unchanging; thus, hope becomes an "anchor of the soul" that sustains the wayfarer amidst trials. *Allegory of Hope* by Gottfried Maas depicts hope as a woman holding an anchor and turning toward God.
 

According to the *Inferno* section of Dante’s *Divine Comedy*, the chilling phrase "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" is inscribed at the gates of Hell. This declaration defines Hell not merely as a place of physical torment, but as a "closed space" completely stripped of opportunity, forgiveness, and the possibility of change.

The term "Hell Joseon," used to criticize Korean society, encapsulates these very characteristics of Hell. A reality where uncertainty about the future erodes conviction, and where individual effort crashes against structural barriers only to turn into cynicism and pessimism, starkly illustrates the "absence of hope" facing modern society. This state goes beyond mere psychological withdrawal; it leads to the destruction of human dignity. This is because a person stripped of hope loses the drive to align their actions with an ultimate purpose, effectively becoming a prisoner confined within the walls of the present.

In the face of such a crisis, examining Thomas Aquinas’s theology of hope offers essential guidance for distinguishing between worldly desires and true expectation, thereby allowing us to reset the direction of our lives. Aquinas does not reduce hope to mere vague optimism or emotional comfort. Instead, he interprets it as a powerful, practical force that enables humans to transcend their finitude and move toward the ultimate good.

Modern individuals, trapped by socio-structural barriers, have lost both their sense of dignity and the momentum to look toward the future.

Only by shaking off the vices of despair and presumption—and by orienting ourselves toward the "Good"—can we find hope and safeguard our happiness.

Optical Illusions

 Window of the Ark  

Master of Optical Illusions: Korean  Article in the Catholic Times by the director of the Jesuit Human Rights Solidarity.

Recently, protests against data centers, led by the right-wing group "Humans First," erupted simultaneously across the United States. Until now, the U.S. government and conservative factions had argued that rapid and widespread data center construction was essential to beating China in the race for AI supremacy. However, as serious adverse effects—such as skyrocketing electricity bills, severe water shortages, noise pollution, and water contamination—came to light, opposition from local residents, particularly in rural areas, intensified.

Data centers are now viewed—across the political spectrum—not merely as facilities that consume vast amounts of water and electricity, but as a destructive industry that devastates ecosystems, depletes resources, and directly threatens citizens' lives. Opposition movements against data centers are spreading rapidly beyond the U.S. to countries like Canada, Australia, and Ireland.

The term "artificial intelligence" often conjures up images of "clean, intangible" concepts like algorithms, data, and the cloud. Yet, this is an optical illusion—a fantasy. No AI system can function without mineral resources. Consequently, AI researchers Kate Crawford and Mark Graham define the essence of AI as a massive "extractive industry" that exploits Earth's natural resources and energy. And the targets of this extraction extend far beyond natural resources alone. The data and labor generated by human civilization—and even human beings themselves—have become targets for extraction. The virtual worlds we encounter on our smartphone screens are, in reality, underpinned by physical spaces where these resources are ruthlessly harvested.

Lithium is essential for powering the batteries and electrical systems that serve as the core infrastructure for artificial intelligence. To incorporate just 0.15g of lithium into a memory chip, vast tracts of land across the globe—from Nevada in the U.S. to Bolivia, the Congo, Mongolia, and Indonesia—are torn open. The same applies to the mining of rare earth elements, which are crucial for semiconductor manufacturing. In China’s Jiangxi province, for instance, the valuable material extracted from rare earth ores accounts for a mere 0.2%; the remaining 99.8%—consisting of toxic waste—is simply dumped into the natural environment.

This has resulted in the formation of a toxic black sludge lake spanning over 8 kilometers in diameter in the Baotou region. The AI ​​industry’s indiscriminate consumption of mineral resources is akin to a history of plunder that strips the Earth to the bone.

The electricity consumed by the data centers currently proliferating worldwide already exceeds the total energy usage of many small-to-medium-sized nations. Electricity generated by burning massive amounts of fossil fuels powers these colossal machines, while vast quantities of water are consumed to cool the intense heat emitted by tens of thousands of computer servers.

An even greater concern is that this expansion of infrastructure and large-scale investment not only destroys nature but also entrenches social inequality to an irreversible degree. While local residents bear the full brunt of direct harms—such as environmental pollution, resource depletion, and stress caused by low-frequency noise—the immense wealth generated by data centers flows into the pockets of a handful of Big Tech companies.

Published over fifty years ago, the Club of Rome’s report *The Limits to Growth* predicted, based on trends at the time, that global resources and population would collapse before the year 2100. It proposed that a shift toward the sustainable management and reuse of resources was the only solution to ensure long-term stability. Inequality—where a select few monopolize profits while offloading environmental risks and costs onto the vulnerable—inevitably leads to resentment against tech capital and sparks new forms of political resistance. The growing global opposition to data centers demonstrates just how close this destructive industry is pushing the lives of ordinary people to the brink.

Yet, the South Korean government is going to extremes of delusion and fantasy, offering full-scale support for data center construction—one of its "three major mega-projects"—and promising operators guaranteed access to cheap electricity and water. As Pope Francis observed, we are living not merely in an era of change, but in a time of transformation that is reshaping the era itself. One cannot help but ask: what could be more urgent in this transformation than the restoration of the Earth and human life?