As the pope comes to Seoul, where will 400,000 sleep and wash... from sleeping bags and clotheslines to neighborhood bathhouses, full mobilization - 경향신문

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2ｍ×1.5ｍ space for sleeping bags and luggage

WYD held in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023. Provided by Lisbon WYD

Next year, from August 3 to 8, World Youth Day (WYD), a global festival for Catholic youth, will be held in Seoul. Along with Pope Leo XIV, 400,000 faithful from around the world will come to the city. It is no exaggeration to say the success of the event hinges on arranging how they will eat, sleep, and wash. To welcome the influx of young pilgrims, parishes, schools, and the homes of parishioners across Seoul will be transformed into large-scale lodging for several days. Sleeping bags, clotheslines, high-capacity power strips, and neighborhood bathhouses will all be mobilized. A manual distributed by the Seoul WYD Organizing Committee sets out concrete guidelines, through a hypothetical scenario, for what to do once pilgrims are assigned. Using the fictional Mannam-dong Parish in Seoul as the stage, we previewed the day of August 4, 2027.

#Scene 1. 7 a.m. The kitchen of Choi Myung-jin (Catarina) in Mannam-dong, Seoul.

Two slices of bread pop up from the toaster. On one side of the table sit cereal and milk, jam, and cheese. Choi Myung-jin (Catarina) peels a peach, plates it, and launches a translation app on her phone. The screen shows the sentence El desayuno esta listo (breakfast is ready). Camila Rojas and Valeria Quispe from Peru are spending their second night in this home. Their bedroom is a pair of sleeping bags laid out side by side in the living room. At first, Choi hesitated about hosting a homestay, because the 30-pyeong home shared by four had no spare room. But she decided to do it after hearing that a space about 2 meters by 1.5 meters, enough for one pilgrim to spread a sleeping bag and place luggage, would suffice. She also set up a partition for changing clothes along one side of the living room. With six people now sharing one space, they set bedtimes, shower order, mealtimes, and outing times in advance, because someone must be at home when the guests return. She also carefully checked for any food allergies. No one in the family speaks Spanish, but Papago or Google Translate have made things manageable.

#Scene 2. 8 a.m. The courtyard of Mannam-dong Parish

Volunteer Kim Hyeong-tae (Francisco) fields nonstop calls on his phone, coordinating arrivals: there will be no more than 180 at B Elementary School; at the moment, the Mannam Sauna side has some capacity, so please direct them there. Mannam-dong Parish is responsible for 1,635 foreign pilgrims: 580 from the Philippines, 380 from Brazil, 220 from Argentina, 135 from Taiwan, 120 from Malaysia, 70 from Peru, 80 from Chile, and 50 from Panama. To host the 400,000 foreign pilgrims taking part in WYD, each of roughly 220 parishes in the Archdiocese of Seoul is supporting lodging for about 2,000 people. In the Mannam-dong catechism rooms, 155 pilgrims from the Philippines are staying, and 240 have been placed two per household with parishioner families. The remaining 1,240 have been distributed among six nearby elementary, middle, and high schools. When venues that are not lodging facilities receive large numbers of visitors, unexpected issues often arise. Chief among them is washing. Middle and high schools have showers, but two elementary schools do not. The workaround is two neighborhood public bathhouses.

Serving tables have been set up in the parish yard. On the wall, alongside directions to event sites, hangs a neighborhood map marked with pharmacies, convenience stores, ATMs, laundromats, and public bathhouses. In front of the trash bins, a multilingual guide explains how to sort waste for recycling.

WYD held in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023. Provided by Lisbon WYD

#Scene 3. 8:20 a.m. In front of Mannam Sauna

Gabriel Souza and his group from Brazil gather their toiletries and leave their lodging at B Elementary School. Following guidance from volunteers, they split into several teams and head to neighborhood bathhouses. On the phone map in their hands, Mannam Sauna is pinned. A volunteer waiting outside spots them and waves, calling out for them to come over. Gabriel checks the signboard and his phone screen back and forth. A few young people with towels over their shoulders still look half asleep. The ordinary morning street scene in a neighborhood that residents usually pass through has changed a little over the past few days.

#Scene 4. 8:30 p.m. Mannam Middle School gymnasium

The gym floor, empty all day, is once again filling with sleeping bags. Pilgrims back from their showers carry damp T-shirts, towels, and socks. In a space shared by hundreds, they cannot run washing machines at will. One side of the gym has multiple clotheslines so that hand-washed items from the showers can be hung to dry, and colorful pieces of clothing line them end to end. Another scramble for prime spots plays out along the walls: charging. Phone chargers pack into 8-outlet, 4000W high-capacity power strips placed around the room.

Beyond translation apps on their phones, volunteers also use picture cards for communication when words fail. The cards cover everything from toilet, shower, Wi-Fi, water, and laundry to I am hungry. Even by looking only at pictures, the meaning is clear. When someone is unwell, they can point to the head, neck, chest, abdomen, or limbs to show where it hurts and indicate whether a pharmacy, hospital, or ambulance is needed.

Between sleeping bags, small groups of young people look over the photos they took during the day and confirm the next day schedule. Some, worn out, have already crawled into their sleeping bags, while quite a few others can be seen popping out to a nearby convenience store for a late-night snack.

At 11 p.m., the doors close. From midnight to 6 a.m., movement inside the lodging is kept to a minimum so as not to disturb others sleep. As midnight approaches, one by one the lights in the gym go out, and another busy day in Mannam-dong comes to a close.

WYD held in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023. Provided by Lisbon WYD

On April 26, in front of Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, parishioners provide explanations at a promotional booth for the 2027 Seoul World Youth Day (WYD). Provided by the Archdiocese of Seoul