The organizers of World Youth Day 2027, to be held in Seoul, South Korea, recently announced the event’s five patron saints, offering young people around the globe a range of examples of responses to the universal call to holiness.
“The patron saints span continents and eras, offering concrete paths for young people to live their faith amid today’s challenges,” said Archbishop Chung Soon-taick, the chairman of the WYD local organizing committee, according to the Korean newspaper The Chosun Daily. “We hope youth discover their examples in their own lives and form deep spiritual bonds as they prepare for the World Youth Day.”
The patron saints are:
Pope John Paul II
Andrew Kim Taegon and companions
Frances Xavier Cabrini
Josephine Bakhita
Carlo Acutis
The World Youth Day website features a biography, symbol, and special prayer for each patron.
Pope John Paul II established World Youth Day in 1985, after witnessing more than 300,000 young people gathered at the Vatican for the International Jubilee of Youth, according to the WYD Foundation. At the 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto, Pope John Paul II said that when he initially wanted to start the event, he “imagined a powerful moment in which the young people of the world could meet Christ, who is eternally young, and could learn from him how to be bearers of the Gospel to other young people.”
Andrew Kim Taegon was the first Korean priest and is credited with helping build the foundations of the Korean Catholic Church, according to the WYD website. Born in 1821 and ordained in 1845, he worked to help missionaries spread the faith in Korea amid intense persecution and was arrested not long after beginning his ministry. He endured torture in prison but continued to send letters of encouragement to the faithful beyond the cell walls, marking a deep witness of faith and hope. He was martyred in 1846. Pope Saint John Paul II canonized him in 1984.
Carlo Acutis, who was born in England and raised in Italy, is known as the first Millennial saint. He developed a deep love for the Eucharist at an early age and used his self-taught computer programming talents to evangelize online. He died at age 15 from leukemia and was canonized in 2025 by Pope Leo XIV.
Frances Cabrini was born in Italy in 1850, and persevered in answering a call to a religious vocation amid significant health struggles. In 1880, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, originally wanting to serve as a missionary in China. However, at the request of Pope Leo XIII, she journeyed to New York, where she ministered to marginalized Italian immigrants, according to her bio on the site. She made 30 trips across the Atlantic Ocean and founded hospitals, schools, convents, and orphanages in the U.S., South America, and Europe.
Josephine Bakhita was born in Sudan around 1869. She suffered intensely, from a young age, when she was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Sudan. In 1883, she was sold to Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in Khartoum, Sudan, who moved to Italy two years later, according to Franciscan Media. In Italy, Josephine became the babysitter of Mimmina Michieli, the child of Legnani’s friend. She accompanied Michieli to a catechetical institute operated by the Canossian Daughters of Charity, where she became drawn to Catholicism. She was baptized and confirmed in 1890, according to the outlet.
Later, Josephine was freed from slavery at the conclusion of an Italian court case in which the Canossian Sisters and the Patriarch of Venice intervened in her defense. She entered the order in 1893 and lived as a witness of faith and hope. She died in 1947 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000, according to her bio.
The Local Organizing Committee started the search for the right patrons in late 2024 by surveying young people and pastoral workers, according to an April 27 Vatican News report.
Though the event will not take place until August 2027, the patron saints have a role to play even now, according to Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.
“The patron saints play a fundamental role in the preparation for every World Youth Day,” Cardinal Farrell said, according to Vatican News. “They invite young people, formators, and pastors to reflect on the gift of God’s call, on our baptismal, priestly, religious, and marital vocations, encouraging us to respond to it with generosity and courage in following Christ, who has conquered the world, as the theme of the upcoming WYD reminds us.”