For several months now, the Chemin Neuf Community has been involved in preparing for this World Youth Day and organising the ‘Welcome to Paradise’ festival in South Korea in the summer of 2027.
In just over a year’s time, World Youth Day (WYD) will be held in Seoul, South Korea. This will be the second edition of WYD in Asia, following Manila in 1995, in a country where the religious context differs from that of previous host countries, which were predominantly Christian. Indeed, only 13% of the South Korean population is Catholic. The theme for this edition will be: “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). An invitation to draw strength and hope from Christ in the face of the challenges of our time.
For this Korean edition, the Chemin Neuf Community will organise a ‘Welcome to Paradise’ festival in the country in the run-up to WYD, as was the case in Lisbon in 2023 and in Kraków in 2016. The Community is particularly keen to encourage young people from across Asia to attend the festival. This is why Fathers Luciano and Timothée, from the Youth Mission, have made several tripses dans différents pays d’Asie pour rencontrer les pastorales des jeunes locales et préparer le festival.
In Manila, Philippines: the WYD preparation headquarters
First, a visit to the Philippines to finalise preparations for the launch of the WYD missionary year and to set up the headquarters at the Chemin Neuf community house in Manila.
From September 2026, around fifteen young people from nine countries (France, Poland, Belgium, Mauritius, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, etc.) will spend several months preparing for World Youth Day, whilst also carrying out social outreach work with street children. The Chemin Neuf Community is actively seeking partners and donors to fund the missionary year, which will cost €150,000. Donations can be made at https://dons.chemin-neuf.fr/don/, specifying the project “WYD 2027”.
A Welcome to Paradise festival in South Korea
The journey then continued to Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong to forge links and present the project in detail to local youth ministries, with a view to offering the Welcome to Paradise festival to several hundred young people across Asia.
The Welcome to Paradise festival will be hosted in the city of Gyeongju, approximately 250 km from Seoul, with the Chemin Neuf Community having confirmed its collaboration with the Archdiocese of Daegu. Contacts had been established through Father Peter, a South Korean priest who had lived for two years at the community house in Manila whilst studying for his Master’s degree in theology.
Chemin Neuf’s involvement in organising World Youth Day in Seoul
Finally, a visit to Seoul, the South Korean capital where World Youth Day will take place. The meeting with the WYD LOC (Local Organising Committee) confirmed the Catholic Church’s expectations of the Chemin Neuf Community. The programme will consist of leading a catechesis in English, pastoral activities in the same church in the afternoons, and a worship concert on one of the stages at the Youth Festival. It is also very likely that the Chemin Neuf Community will lead an evening of prayer for unity and peace (as in Lisbon in 2023) in collaboration with Taizé, MAGIS and other movements at Seoul Anglican Cathedral.
There is just over a year to go before the start of the Asian edition of World Youth Day and the Welcome to Paradise festival. We can entrust to our prayers all those involved in the preparations. May this Asian edition confirm the missionary zeal of the Catholic Church in Asia!
