ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Bishop Lee: "Young Koreans hope that Carlo Acutis will be the patron of World Youth Day in Seoul"

Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – "Carlo Acutis is already a role model and a source of inspiration for young Koreans. His person is also very well known in view of World Youth Day (WYD) 2027 in Seoul. We will continue to present him as a contemporary example of holiness, especially for his commitment to proclaiming the Gospel in the digital world. Young Koreans hope that he will be declared the patron of World Youth Day," Paul Kyung Sang Lee, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul and head of the Organizing Committee of World Youth Day in Seoul, told Fides.
"The more than 1,000 young Koreans who came to Rome in August for the Jubilee World Youth Day visited the the Sanctuary of the Spoliation in Assisi, where Acutis's body rests," the bishop stated. "And the canonization ceremony on September 7 was broadcast by Korean Catholic television stations and watched by a large audience. We recall that a relic of Acutis was donated to us by the saint's family and is now housed in the chapel of the building housing the World Youth Day Organizing Committee in Seoul. Our young people often go to the chapel to ask for his intercession. They consider him one of them; he is a saint of the 'millennials.'"
In addition, Bishop Lee noted, a statue of Blessed Carlo Acutis has been placed in the courtyard of the headquarters of CPBC Catholic Peace Broadcasting and Peace Newspaper in Jeodong, Seoul, the media outlet of the Catholic Bishops' Conference. "Now, Acutis's presence in this place reminds everyone that the mass media can be channels for spreading the Gospel," he noted.
Bishop Kim Jong-gang, President of the Youth Ministry Committee of the Korean Bishops' Conference, also spoke of the "patron saint of the internet," calling him "an example of how to use the internet to draw closer to God." "For our young people, born and raised in a digital environment, Carlo's canonization brings great hope and a sense of challenge," he emphasized. "He tells them, with his holiness, that even as teenagers, one can put God first and grow on the spiritual path through prayer and the sacraments." Carlo Acutis, he explained, is "a missionary figure suited to the digital age" and "exhorts young Koreans to make their digital skills fruitful as instruments of evangelization."
Following the canonization, described by Bishop Kim Jong-gang as "a special gift from God for our time," catechesis and study sessions dedicated to the saint are being organized in various Korean parishes and dioceses, offering young people and all the faithful the opportunity to learn about his life and faith. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 13/9/2025)

Share:

holiness

---

---

youth

---

---

carlo acutis

---

evangelization

---

---

the internet

---

---