LISBON – In a sign of the rapidly expanding influence that Asian Catholicism is having in the global church, Pope Francis announced on Sunday at the close of World Youth Day in Portugal that the next such gathering will be held in Seoul, South Korea. The Seoul gathering will take place in 2027, meaning in four years, rather than the typical three, as there will be a smaller-scale jubilee for youth held in Rome in 2025 as part of the Jubilee of Hope that year.
Pope Francis visited the South Korean capital in 2014, applauding the strong involvement of laity in the local church and highlighting the country’s many martyrs. Catholicism in the east Asian nation is rapidly growing. From 1985 to 2005, the percentage of the South Korean population identifying itself as Catholic more than doubled, standing today at just over 11 percent, according to the 2005 census, meaning more than five million people.
Veteran Vatican commentator Sandro Magister once dubbed South Korea the “Asian Tiger of the Church” given its rapid growth and equally rapidly growing influence in the global church. One significant aspect of Catholicism in South Korea is that unlike many other countries its roots do not lie in priests or foreign missionaries, but rather in the laity of the 18th century who brought Christian texts home from China. Catholicism then steadily grew in the country for nearly a century before any clergy arrived, resulting in a strong tradition of lay leadership.
Many interpreted Pope Francis’s 2014 visit to the city as a preliminary step towards a WYD event, and in 2021 the pontiff further cemented ties with the east Asian nation by naming the former bishop of Daejeon, Lazzaro You Heung-sik, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy. He was made a cardinal a year later. Cardinal You Heung-sik is the first South Korean to lead a Vatican department, and is seen as having a significant international base of support.
Two South Korean pilgrims at WYD said that they were thrilled with the announcement. Sunkwang Choi Matias, from Seoul, said the fact that the next WYD will be held in the South Korean capital is “very meaningful and we’re very happy and excited. There will be a lot of preparations to do I guess,” he said, saying, “I will be very happy.” Choi said his message to Pope Francis in the meantime is, “Just be healthy, Pope, be healthy and pray for us and we’ll pray for you too.”
Choi also recalled the Pope’s visit to Seoul in 2017, saying it was a joyful occasion. He said he came to WYD in Portugal “to feel this atmosphere and to experience it. It’s our first time and we’re loving it. And to see the pope.” Choi said he had seen Pope Francis two or three times before the closing Mass, and “every time it’s just so exciting and happy, and we’re proud to be Catholic.”
Although the pope has been speaking largely off-the-cuff in Spanish, Choi said he has been able to understand bits and pieces, and that the pontiff’s message is always “very simple, but very powerful at the same time. It’s so easy to understand and it just touches your heart right away. It was so good.”
Fellow pilgrim and Seoul native Seokjin Hong Basilius, who is a seminarian, had studied sign language vigorously before coming to WYD because “in the future I want to preach the Gospel to deaf people.” Sign language interpreters had helped him “understand what the Pope says in the Gospel, so I am very moved and touched,” Hong said. ““I think it is really good that World Youth Day is doing Sign Language and I’m thankful that the pope is considerate of those in need. “I’m very thankful,” he said, saying he is also excited for the next WYD in his hometown.
In his homily for the closing Mass, Pope Francis offered three verbs which he said would help the young people present to take their experience back home and make it meaningful as they settle back into their usual routines: to shine, to listen, and to be unafraid. Citing the Gospel account of Jesus’s Transfiguration, he said the “overwhelming light” that made Jesus shine in that moment would later help the disciples as they faced the “dark hours” of Jesus’ death and resurrection. “God illuminates our hearts, our minds, our path,” he said, telling them to always move forward “with the light of the Lord.”
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