World Youth Day ’27 countdown kicks off

Young adults from across the Archdiocese of Toronto will gather later this month to officially kick off next year’s World Youth Day, with Cardinal Frank Leo celebrating a special Vigil Mass launching a year of preparation for the international youth gathering in Seoul, South Korea.

The Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Christ the King takes place as part of a larger weekend that centres around all things youth and young-adult Catholics. Taking place at Scarborough’s St. Thomas More Parish on Nov. 21, Mass will follow the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Renew Young Adult Conference, with participants expected to join in a 10-minute walk to celebrate the Archdiocesan World Youth Day Mass. All told, upwards of 800 young adults are expected to join in the weekend event.

The Toronto kickoff comes on the heels of registration for the event opening Oct. 22. Pope Leo XIV is urging young Catholics worldwide to view the gathering not as a sightseeing trip, but as a life-changing pilgrimage. 

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In an Oct. 22 video message, the pontiff said the event is a call to set out on a journey of faith, friendship and hope. He encouraged pilgrims to bring their dreams and desires, as well as their wounds and struggles, assuring them that God is waiting to reawaken their hope. 

This year’s World Youth Day theme is taken from John 16:33 — “Take courage! I have overcome the world” — and is the same theme chosen by the Vatican for the 41st World Youth Day, which will take place Aug. 3-8, 2027.

Fr. Paul Magyar, the director of the Office of Catholic Youth, spoke to The Catholic Register about the timeliness of that theme across both the upcoming celebratory weekend and on the global stage next year. 

“The Renew Conference this year is focused on the courage to defend the faith, designed entirely on the feedback of all the young adults that we have throughout our Spiritus Ministries across all six regions of our archdiocese. That theme of courage reaches into World Youth Day’s growing excitement this month and will continue for the whole of next year,” he said. 

Next year will mark the first World Youth Day under Pope Leo XIV, with the last taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023. August of that year saw Pope Francis announce South Korea as home to WYD 2027, the second ever Asian country to host the gathering after the Philippines, in 1995.

Magyar was quick to speak to the unique significance of next year’s celebrations in Seoul, which will also mark the first time WYD is held in a country where Christians are a minority, making up about 30 per cent of the population.

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“I think it is a good opportunity to foster the growth of Christianity and of Catholicism in that country, and to encourage all the people in that part of the world to see what Catholicism is and how positive and welcoming it is,” he said. “For young adults to be invited, welcomed, heard and acknowledged, both their struggles and their victories through Christ for saving us, is special.” 

Magyar also spoke to the role of St. Andrew Kim Taegon and his companions, the Korean Martyrs — the 103 Catholic saints canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1984 — and the significance they will play during next year’s gathering. 

“The fruits of their sacrifices are remembered by the Catholic Church, and now, how those seeds have been planted and how they have grown is evident. St. Kim is one of the patron saints of World Youth Day 2027, along with St. John Paul II, Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Carlo Acutis and Josephine Bakhita. These are the five defender saints of World Youth Day '27,” he said. 

More than 400 young adults aged 19 to 39 from the Archdiocese of Toronto are expected to travel to Seoul to participate in next year’s festivities, with the OCY pilgrimage taking place from Aug. 1 to 12 as a slightly longer trip than the main WYD week. Other parishes, 19 all told, plan to send groups to actively participate, with OCY offering faith formation before, during and after the pilgrimage for the full year.

Pilgrims will be able to participate in official WYD events, including the opening Mass, catechesis with bishops, traditional youth festival, the Papal Welcome Ceremony, the Way of the Cross, Eucharistic Adoration and the closing Mass with the Holy Father. OCY’s journey also features a special guided day tour to Mirinae Shrine and the birthplace of St. Andrew Kim, as well as free time to explore Seoul and experience Korean culture, and ongoing spiritual accompaniment by chaplains and the OCY team. 

Magyar, even so far from the event, remains excited for the totality of the upcoming journey. 

“ I think everyone is very excited. To go to a different part of the world is a great pilgrimage to even get there, and to experience a different culture, learn about their experiences and how they view Catholicism is a great learning experience for every pilgrim,” he said. 

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“We have a lot of pilgrims from the archdiocese who are Korean as well, and they're very excited to go back to their home country to be there to support and reconnect with the faith there. For those of us who are not from that country, the opportunity to start learning about the language, to start learning how to say the sign of the Cross, how to pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary in Korean is a very nice spiritual project for everyone.” 

More information, see OCY’s website, ocytoronto.org/.