Meeting with Korean priests and religious in Rome, Leo XIV urged them to be “artisans of peace” in preparation for the 2027 World Youth Day in Seoul.

On a peninsula marked by division and political instability, Korean Catholics must be “men and women of reconciliation” and “artisans of peace,” Pope Leo XIV said. He was addressing a group of Korean priests and consecrated men and women residing in Rome, who visited the Vatican on October 5, 2026. The audience marked the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of the Pontifical Korean College’s headquarters.

The Pope thanked the college community for its service “to the Church in Korea and to the universal Church.” He also made reference to the next World Youth Day (WYD), which will take place in Seoul in 2027.

At the start of his address in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope welcomed those present, and thanked them in Korean. He specifically encouraged those already preparing for World Youth Day in Seoul; he said he wants the gathering to bring together Korea’s Christian heritage and the future of young Catholics around the world.

For Pope Leo XIV, the presence of Korean priests and religious in Rome holds particular significance. “In this place, close to the memorials of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the faith that you received in Korea encounters its roots and can draw renewed missionary impetus,” he explained.

The Pope highlighted the distinctive history of Christianity on the Korean Peninsula. The faith took root spontaneously and “developed also through the sincere search for truth undertaken by men who became familiar with Christian writings and desired to know more about Jesus Christ.” That search led to a desire for baptism. From baptism, a community emerged that recalled “the Church of the earliest days,” he said.

Catholicism grew in Korea through the witness of the martyrs. The Korean people endured persecution, war, poverty, and division with “extraordinary strength of spirit,” the Pope said.

He urged those present to cultivate memory and hope. He pointed in particular to Venerable Thomas Choe Yang-Eop (1821–1861), the second priest in Korean history, known as the “martyr of sweat.” For eleven years, he traveled tirelessly along Korea’s roads to reach distant and hidden Christian communities. He brought them the word of God and the sacraments until he exhausted his strength in service to the faithful.

“There is the martyrdom of those who offer their lives in a single moment, and there is also the more hidden martyrdom of those who give their lives day after day,” Pope Leo XIV said. All Christians are called to this second form of witness, he added: “to give their lives in love, each day.”

In a society marked by competition, he urged Korean religious to reach out to those who are lonely, support those who are weary, and seek out those who have drifted away from the Church. He also called on them to have “the courage to forgive, to begin anew and to engage in dialogue.”

“The Korean Peninsula still bears the painful wound of division,” the Pope said. North and South Korea remain technically at war despite the 1953 armistice. He therefore asked Korean religious “always to be men and women of reconciliation.” He called for “new paths of encounter” to open and for a future in which “the Gospel of peace may be proclaimed freely in every part of the Korean Peninsula and throughout the world.”

World Youth Day in 2027 will make this connection between memory and hope visible. Young people from around the world will travel to a country where the Gospel grew through the witness of the martyrs.

Pope Leo XIV wants the Seoul gathering to be “a great encounter between memory and the future.” The martyrs will hand on the faith to new generations. Young people will receive it and then “carry it along the roads of the world.”

During October, the month dedicated to the Rosary, the Pope entrusted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, patroness of Korea, the priests and religious present in Rome and the path toward World Youth Day in Seoul. He also invoked St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, and all the canonized and beatified Korean martyrs. He asked them to accompany preparations for the 2027 gathering and make Korean Catholics “guardians of memory, witnesses of hope and artisans of peace.”

At a press conference on the return flight from his trip to France on September 28, Pope Leo XIV confirmed that he would travel to South Korea next summer for World Youth Day. He will become the third pope to visit the country, where Catholics form a vibrant minority of about 11% of the population. Pope John Paul II visited in 1984 and 1989; Pope Francis visited in 2014.