Rome (Italy). The Local Organizing Committee for World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul, Korea, has announced with a press release the names of the five Patron Saints chosen to accompany the event:
- Saint John Paul II (1920–2005), the Pontiff who instituted World Youth Day in 1985;
- Saint Andrea Kim Taegon (1821–1846) …and companions, the first Catholic priest in Korea who gave his life for the faith as a martyr;
- Saint Frances Saverio Cabrini (1850–1917), missionary and patron of migrants;
- Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869–1947), a Sudanese religious Sister of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity who, as a child, was a victim of human trafficking and transformed her pain into love;
- Saint Carlo Acutis (1991–2006), the “millennial saint” who lived out his faith in everyday life, making his passion for computers a field for digital evangelization.
The selection of these patrons took place at the conclusion of a process of discernment that began at the end of 2024 with a national survey among young people, youth ministry workers, and formation leaders. Subsequently, a group of young people drawing inspiration from the themes of the event (truth, love, and peace) prepared a prayer and identified a representative symbol for each Saint. These can be found, along with a brief profile, on the official website www.wydseoul.org, available in six languages.
“These Patron Saints span continents and generations, and each of them offers a concrete path for living out the faith amidst the realities that young people face today,” stated Monsignor Peter Soon-Taick Chung, Archbishop of Seoul and President of the Organizing Committee. He further expressed his hope, “I hope that young people will discover in these saints examples for their own lives and, through the journey of preparation for World Youth Day, forge a deep spiritual bond with them.”
With the announcement of the five patrons, the journey towards the WYD in Seoul 2027 has officially begun and the social media profiles of the event are coming alive with their images and initiatives to involve young people, such as the quiz to discover the patron saint most aligned with one’s own faith journey.
