Dear Members of the Vincentian Family,

May the joy and peace of the Lord be always with you!

As you know, the Church will be celebrating World Youth Day in South Korea in August 2027.

While this event represents a significant honor for both the Church and the Vincentian Family in South Korea, it has also produced several logistical challenges. The Catholic community in South Korea is relatively small, making the search for suitable venues to accommodate an international gathering particularly complex. As a result, the Church continues to finalize details concerning hospitality, locations, expenses, and other arrangements associated with the Papal Event.

As you might expect, this situation is even more complex when dealing with the Vincentian Family in South Korea. Our smaller numbers have made it especially difficult to secure a location for the traditional Vincentian gathering held prior to World Youth Day.

Because we have limited space and resources, we had to make some tough but sensible choices about what’s possible for a Vincentian Experience before the Papal Event. We realize this may disappoint many of you since we can’t accommodate everyone in the Family, but we hope you’ll understand the reasons behind our decision.

To say it most simply:

1. The Vincentian Family in South Korea will be able to host only 300 participants.
2. We will only be able to accept participants from the Vincentian Family in Asia. We determined that this approach was the most effective and equitable method to manage attendance for the Vincentian Youth Day.
3. Participants are required to be between the ages of 18 to 35. Again, due to limited capacity, priority will be given to those for whom World Youth Day is primarily designed to This restriction is equally applicable to all group leaders who accompany the participants.
4. Every country in Asia which has a Vincentian presence has been invited to send However, a quota has been placed upon how many we can accept from any given country to maximize participation of young Vincentians from all of Asia in South Korea.

The Organizing Committee of VYD is preparing catechetical materials for World Youth Day, which will be provided to all Vincentian Youth. Our intention is that this initiative will enable everyone to participate spiritually in this significant occasion for the Church and its youth.

We would like to emphasize that this decision was considered thoroughly and was not made lightly. Developing an appropriate solution required careful evaluation of the specific circumstances surrounding the event. We trust that you will appreciate and understand our reasoning.

For the Vincentian Family in Asia and Oceania, in April we sent a detailed letter to the coordinators of each country, from whom we expect to receive responses by 01 June 2026 via a FORM. We kindly remind you to review that communication and respond accordingly. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at vyd2027@famvin.org.

Thank you and please pray for the success of this event for the growth of the Church and the Vincentian Family in South Korea. We also encourage and invite you to unite with this event in spirit by following our official social media pages and sharing them with the young people in your country as follows:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vyd2027korea
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vyd2027korea
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VincentianYouthDay
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vyd2027

Sincerely,

The VYD 2027 Organizing Committee