World Youth Day Seoul 2027 organizers invited Catholic media groups worldwide to help build a two-way digital network aimed at reaching young people who cannot travel to South Korea.
Father Dominic Jaehyup Lee, head of media communications for the event’s local organizing committee, presented the project Aug. 5 at the SIGNIS World Congress in Kigali.
Called WYD Now, the planned network will connect Catholic broadcasters, news organizations, and digital platforms with official live feeds, verified information, and approved multimedia content from the Aug. 3-8, 2027, gathering.
“The goal is simple: even young people who cannot travel to Seoul should be able to experience World Youth Day in their own language,” Lee said.
Broadcasters will be able to carry official feeds and add commentary or subtitles in local languages. News outlets and digital platforms may use approved photographs and video clips, while media groups producing programs in Seoul may contribute material for distribution in other regions.
Local churches may also send stories, testimonies, prayers, and reports about young people in their communities.
Lee said the project was “designed as a two-way structure in which Seoul and local churches exchange stories, images, prayer, and witness.”
The network would allow Catholic media to present the Church in Korea to international audiences while bringing the experiences of young people from other countries into the World Youth Day narrative.
“What WYD Now seeks to create is not a structure in which Seoul speaks, and the world only listens,” Lee said.
He asked organizations attending the congress to identify the countries, communities, languages, and platforms they serve, as well as the resources and technical support they may need.
Registered organizations are expected to receive preparation updates, official photographs and videos, technical specifications, guidance on live broadcasts, language resources, and schedule changes.
“You are a potential network of interpreters, collaborators, and trusted local voices,” Lee told the delegates. “Today we are not presenting a finished system, we are inviting you to help us build the network.”
Countdown to WYD Seoul 2027
The presentation came two days after organizers marked the beginning of the one-year countdown to World Youth Day Seoul 2027.
The local organizing committee said preparations were moving from groundwork to full implementation in international cooperation, pilgrim services, accommodation, transportation, safety, medical care, and communications.
“Over the past three years, we have concentrated on laying the foundations for the event,” said Archbishop Peter Soon-taick Chung of Seoul, president of the organizing committee.
“The year ahead will be the time to complete our preparations and welcome young people from every part of the world,” Chung said.
Official theme song
Organizers released the official theme song Aug. 3 as part of the countdown. The song, “Confidite, Ego Vici Mundum,” was selected from 434 entries, including 294 submitted from outside Korea.
Written by Korean composer Francis Jiyoon Kim, the title translates from Latin as “Take courage! I have overcome the world,” the Gospel verse chosen as the theme of the gathering.
Once in a generation
World Youth Day will return to Asia for the first time since Manila hosted the event in 1995. Seoul will be the second Asian host and the first to hold the gathering in a country where Christianity is a minority faith.
“For an entire generation of Asian Catholics, this may be the first World Youth Day held within realistic reach,” Lee said.
He said the gathering would draw from the varied experiences of Catholics across Asia, including communities that live as small minorities alongside ancient religious traditions.
“Interreligious dialogue is therefore not a program added for the occasion,” Lee said. “It is part of the church’s everyday life in Korea, and it will shape our spirit of the event.”
The continuing division of the Korean Peninsula will also give weight to the event’s focus on peace and reconciliation.
“We do not speak of reconciliation as a task completed in the past, but as a journey still unfolding in the present,” Lee said.
Before the main events in Seoul, pilgrims will join the Days in the Dioceses and stay with local communities across 15 dioceses in Korea.
Pilgrim registration is scheduled to open in October 2026. Volunteer recruitment in Korea and overseas will also begin in the second half of the year. The organizing committee said 378 volunteers were already involved in preparations.
“In 2027, not every young person will be able to come to Seoul, but with you, World Youth Day Seoul 2027 can be present in local communities throughout the world,” Lee said.
