In August 2027, young Catholics from all over the globe will gather in Seoul, South Korea, for World Youth Day (WYD). Sarah-Leah Pimentel reflects on how WYD changed her life, and has tips for today’s Catholic youth.
Next year the Catholic youth from all over the globe will meet in Seoul, South Korea, for the 18th World Youth Day (WYD). I have been fortunate to have attended two WYDs — 2000 in Rome and 2005 in Cologne. No doubt, the mathematically astute readers can now guess my age!
Every young Catholic — for the purpose of WYD, that means between 16 and 36 — would do well to seriously consider attending a WYD, if they can. It is life-transforming and its fruits will provide spiritual sustenance to draw on, even many years later. But for that, you need to be ready for everything that WYD has to offer. Let me tell you my story.
In 2000, I was one of three South Africans from the Schoenstatt Movement who travelled to Germany for a pre-WYD youth gathering. We then joined another 900 Schoenstatters who travelled on to Rome. It was my first time travelling abroad alone. I was 19 and completely unprepared for the experience of being one of two million young people who gathered at the Tor Vergata field for Mass with Pope John Paul II.
I enjoyed the pre-WYD activities in Germany. I learned so much about my faith and about my interior life. I made friends from other countries. One of them remains a close friend today.
Rome, however, unnerved me. It had nothing to do with the WYD programme or the event’sorganisation. I simply was not mature enough for it. As I was over 18, I was put in charge of a group of younger American teens, in case we lost our group leader. Which we did as another crowd cut through us!
Suddenly I was responsible for getting ten 16-year-olds back to our accommodation, but I couldn’t even read the map, figure out the metro system, or speak Italian! We got stuck in a packed-to-capacity metro station during a summer downpour and they shut the gates when water started pouring into the underground. I had a claustrophobia-induced panic attack and imagined we might drown. In the end, we made it back to the hostel safely, but from that moment on, I was perpetually afraid.
10km walk in Rome’s heatwave
One of the key moments of WYD is the walking pilgrimage to the open-air venue for Mass with the pope. That day, Rome was in a heatwave. The 10km was not spiritual preparation but physical torture. When we arrived at our designated section, it was full, so we set up our sleeping bags on the path, where people trod on us all night as they walked to the nearby portaloos. We were so far away from the huge altar, the closest screen was also too far to see, and the sound system was abysmal. We tried to follow the Mass, but we didn’t really know what was going on!
You would think this experience would have scarred me for life and I would never go to WYD again! Wrong!
Four years later, I had the opportunity to live in Germany for a year as a volunteer, helping to prepare WYD 2005 in Cologne. It was the best year of my life! The days of the actual WYD celebration are a treasure trove of memories that frequently come up in my conversations even two decades later.
Living and working in a community of young Catholics from a dozen different countries was spiritual nourishment for my faith. We began each day in community prayer, instilling in me a lifelong prayer routine.
A priest and a religious Sister were our mentors. I learnt a work ethic. I learnt to navigate various kinds of personalities and to resolve differences through dialogue and patience. I enjoyed learning about other cultures and learnt to speak Spanish and German (the latter has become rusty through disuse). That year was so transformative spiritually, emotionally and intellectually that it even changed my career path!
Would a new pope want to meet youth?
St John Paul II had started WYD in 1984. After he died in April 2005, we followed the conclave with special attention. Would the new pope still want to meet with all the youth? We needn’t have worried — Pope Benedict XVI quickly confirmed that he would be at the event in his home country. We now know that WYD is an established tradition in the Vatican calendar.
By the time WYD came around and 1,2 million youth descended on Cologne, I had the joy of helping pilgrims in distress (as I had been in 2000). My job as a multilingual speaker was to service a helpdesk and assist those who were lost, unsure where to find the various activities, call ambulances, or translate for someone in any kind of difficulty.
The ultimate joy: the volunteers had the special privilege of being up on the altar with Pope Benedict XVI for the vigil the night before the final Mass. The adoration of the Blessed Sacrament held such reverence that it still fills my soul whenever I think about it. From the vantage point of the altar, we looked at the million-strong crowd camped out on the Marienfeld with candles, all united in prayer. It was powerful!
It was not just the proximity or the privileged position that made this WYD experience so tangible for me. This time, I was in the right spiritual space for it. I had grown as a person and was now open to God’s gifts and graces during this mass pilgrimage of young people from all over the world.
If you can, go to a WYD
South Africa is not a Catholic country, and we are a minority even among the wider Christian family. Many parish youth and young adult groups struggle for members, and momentum is often hard to sustain. As a young Catholic, I often felt that I was alone in my faith.
The WYDs helped me realise that I was part of a worldwide community of 1,4 billion people who believe the same things that I did. That awareness gave me an interior courage to continue in my striving as a Catholic and to find out more about my own faith.
Not everyone can afford to go. WYD 2027 in Seoul is likely to cost at least R50000 with flights, visas, lodgings, WYD registration (which includes the pilgrim pack) and food.
If you want to go, you need to start to raise funds early. Establish which young members of your parish are interested and begin the fundraising process now. Get the whole parish involved. If you’re already working, start saving a little bit every month. Join your diocesan group, which should have secured a good travel package.
If you cannot go, you’re not completely isolated from the WYD experience. The key events are livestreamed, so you can join your group spiritually in the opening Mass, the all-night vigil, and the final Holy Mass.
My advice to Catholic youth is to participate in your parish youth group, get involved in the life of your parish as a proclaimer, sacristan, choir member, or youth leader, and allow the faith to come alive in you. That will also prepare you better for the graces that you will receive when you do make the WYD pilgrimage.
For those who can go, I hope they’ll receive all the graces the event offers.
WYDs changed my life in so many ways. I am always grateful that God allowed me two opportunities to experience this extraordinary gathering of Catholic youth. I received formation and blessings that have shaped my life.
There are many WYD memories that I cherish, and when life as an adult becomes challenging, I draw on the well of grace from events two decades ago that revitalise my faith and give me the courage to continue in my life of faith as a Catholic.
Sarah-Leah Pimentel is a language and media practitioner currently based in Cape Town.
Published in the June 2026 issue of The Southern Cross Magazine
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