[Edaily Reporter Oh Hee-na ] Next August, Pope Leo XIV and young people from around the world will gather in South Korea. Some 500,000 young people from over 190 countries are expected to participate, and up to 1 million people are projected to attend the closing Mass on the final day. The World Youth Day (WYD) holds great significance as it is the first time the event is being held in a non-Christian country and because it will convey a message of peace and harmony in Korea, a divided nation. However, as this is a massive international event taking place in the middle of summer, addressing issues such as extreme heat, crowd control, and accommodation and transportation has emerged as a major challenge.

◇ Sangam and Seoul Airport Instead of Gwanghwamun… Minimizing Inconvenience to Citizens Is the ‘Top Priority’
The Organizing Committee for the 2027 Seoul World Youth Day held a press conference on the 5th at Kost Hall in the Cultural Center of Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, where it unveiled the operational plan for the main event—scheduled for August 3–8 of next year—and the main venues. World Youth Day is the Catholic Church’s largest youth festival, which began in Rome, Italy, in 1986. The Seoul event will be the 17th international gathering and the second to be held in Asia, following the 1995 event in Manila, Philippines.

The main venues announced this time are the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Sangam and Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. The opening Mass on August 3, the papal welcome ceremony on August 5, and the Way of the Cross on August 6 will take place at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. The all-night prayer vigil on the 7th and the Send-Off Mass presided over by the Pope on the 8th are scheduled to take place at Seoul Airport. The organizing committee expects 200,000 attendees for the opening Mass, 300,000 for the papal welcome ceremony, 500,000 each for the Way of the Cross and the all-night prayer vigil, and 1 million for the Send-Off Mass.

The main reason the organizing committee chose Sangam and Seoul Airport instead of Gwanghwamun Square—where the beatification ceremony was held during Pope Francis’s 2014 visit to Korea—is to minimize inconvenience to citizens and ensure safety.
Bishop Lee Kyung-sang, the organizing committee’s general coordinator, explained, “The guiding principle in selecting the venues is to minimize disruption to citizens,” adding, “Holding the events at Gwanghwamun would require road closures in the Sejong-ro area for several days, which could cause significant inconvenience to daily life.” He continued, “In 2014, we used the site for only half a day on a Sunday, but since this year’s event will span several days, we decided to utilize the Sangam World Cup Stadium and the surrounding plaza.”

The 2014 beatification ceremony at Gwanghwamun held great symbolic significance, as it took place at a site bearing the history of the persecution of Catholics during the Joseon Dynasty, where the Pope presided over Mass. In contrast, the organizers explained that this World Youth Day placed greater emphasis on safely accommodating large crowds and minimizing inconvenience to citizens rather than historical symbolism.

The selection of Seoul Airport as the venue for the Mass of Send-off, which is expected to draw up to 1 million people, follows the same logic. Although Seoul Airport is a military facility with restricted public access, it offers the advantages of a large site and the ability to avoid long-term traffic restrictions on major arterial roads. It is also considered advantageous for the security and protection of the Pope and participants from around the world.

Bishop Lee explained, “Seoul Airport can accommodate over 1 million people, and aside from the runway, a significant portion of the site consists of grassy areas,” adding, “Installing portable restrooms and treating wastewater is also relatively straightforward.”

The issue is transportation accessibility. Although there are subway stations near Seoul Airport, participants would have to walk approximately 2.8 to 4 km to reach the event venue. Concerns have been raised that if hundreds of thousands of people move simultaneously amid the August heatwave, heat-related illnesses and safety incidents caused by overcrowding could occur.

In response, Bishop Lee explained, “There are four subway stations around Seoul Airport, connected by multiple lines, so it is entirely possible to get there by public transportation.” He added, “While the nature of a pilgrimage involves walking a certain distance, we plan to set up ‘cooling points’ along the route to provide drinking water and air-conditioned rest areas.”

◇Midsummer Heatwave and Securing Accommodations for 500,000 People: Key Challenges
There are also significant concerns regarding the timing of the event. Early August marks the peak of the heatwave in South Korea, and given the nature of the event—which involves prolonged outdoor activities—the risk of safety incidents is high.

A Seoul Metropolitan Government official explained on the same day, “Mayor Oh Se-hoon has taken a keen interest in the event, but at the same time, he is quite concerned about safety issues,” adding, “He has also mentioned the possibility of changing the event dates.”

The organizing committee maintains that the current schedule is unavoidable, given school vacations and the peak vacation season.
Bishop Lee explained, “We considered a period after the monsoon season ends and when the likelihood of typhoons is relatively low, based on statistics from the Korea Meteorological Administration,” adding, “If we delay it by even a week, it would be difficult to use school facilities as accommodations due to preparations for the start of the school year.” He continued, “This decision was the result of a comprehensive assessment of the vacation periods and availability of young people from around the world, as well as the conditions for utilizing domestic facilities.”

To prepare for heat waves, the organizing committee will install shade structures, air-conditioned rest areas, and drinking water stations at the event venues, and will also provide water misting and personal cooling support. The committee plans to identify high-risk areas in advance through crowd movement simulations, closed-circuit television (CCTV), and artificial intelligence (AI)-based crowd density analysis. In addition, professional medical staff and emergency medical facilities will be deployed, centered around the Catholic Central Medical Center, and a joint operations center involving the police, fire department, and medical institutions will be operated. Criteria for scaling back, suspending, or resuming the event due to deteriorating weather conditions will also be established in consultation with relevant agencies.

Securing lodging facilities is another challenge that must be addressed. The Organizing Committee aims to accommodate a total of 500,000 people by utilizing churches, homestays with parishioners’ families, school gymnasiums and auditoriums, universities, and public facilities. The Archdiocese of Seoul will accommodate 270,000 people, while the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the Ministry of Education, and other dioceses will share the burden of accommodating 230,000 people. The government is pursuing a plan to accommodate approximately 100,000 people in school facilities, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government is planning to accommodate 40,000 people in public facilities. The Organizing Committee plans to finalize the allocation of participants by country and their accommodations once registration closes at the end of May next year.

Archbishop Jeong Sun-taek of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul emphasized, “A person’s value is not something that must be proven,” adding, “What we aim to achieve in Seoul in the summer of 2027 is not merely bringing many people together in one place. It is an experience where young people from diverse backgrounds meet, discover their own value, and open their hearts to one another.”