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“Growing Hope. Caring for Creation. Preparing for WYD Seoul 2027” invites young people and communities worldwide to plant trees and make care for creation part of their journey toward Seoul.
September 4, 2026 — As young people around the world prepare for World Youth Day Seoul 2027, the WYD Seoul 2027 Local Organizing Committee and Laudato Si’ Movement are joining forces to invite a generation to put faith into action through care for our common home.
Through the year-long Global Tree Planting Campaign — “Growing Hope. Caring for Creation. Preparing for WYD Seoul 2027” — young people and communities around the world are invited to plant and care for trees in their local communities, share their stories, and become part of a growing global movement on the journey toward Seoul.
The campaign will run until August 2, 2027, accompanying the global preparation for World Youth Day.
Growing hope on the journey toward Seoul
World Youth Day brings together young people from across cultures and continents to encounter Christ and one another and renew their commitment to living the Gospel.
Inspired by Laudato Si’, the new collaboration invites young people to recognize that this journey of faith also includes our relationship with creation and our shared responsibility to care for our common home.
Planting a tree becomes more than an environmental action. It can become a small pilgrimage of faith: a concrete step toward God expressed through care for creation.
Each tree also becomes a living sign of hope—one that can continue growing long after the celebration of World Youth Day has ended.
[QUOTE FROM WYD SEOUL 2027 REPRESENTATIVE]
“The Breath of Life Campaign Team of the World Youth Day Seoul 2027 Organizing Committee, together with the Laudato Si’ Movement, warmly invites young people and communities around the world to take part in this Global Tree Planting Campaign. From the Season of Creation through to the celebration in Seoul, we hope this campaign becomes a meaningful way for you to put your faith into concrete action right where you are. As you plant a tree and share your photos and stories, your action will be marked—alongside those of young people across the globe—on the Global Tree Planting Map. Wherever you may be, we sincerely invite you to join us on this journey.” – Sr. Jeshua Inhye Cheong, Culture Section, Events Division, WYD Seoul 2027 Local Organizing Committee
“I believe that WYD Seoul 2027 will bring us together and inspire us, especially as young people, to live the Gospel with courage and hope. Our Tree Planting Campaign is one meaningful way for us to put our faith into action by caring for creation and our common home. Each tree we plant can become a sign of hope and a step toward living out the values we cherish in the Gospel. As young people sharing this world and this journey together, we hope that wherever you are in the world, you will join us in this shared journey of faith, care, and hope.”- Breath of Life Campaign Team Volunteer
“World Youth Day is a powerful reminder that young people are already transforming our world today. Through this collaboration, we invite young people and the entire Laudato Si’ Movement community to make care for creation part of their journey toward Seoul. Every tree planted is a concrete act of faith and a living sign of hope that can continue growing long after WYD 2027.”
— Lorna Gold, Executive Director, Laudato Si’ Movement
From local action to a global movement
The initiative is open to everyone preparing for or participating in WYD Seoul 2027, regardless of nationality or organizational affiliation.
Young people can participate individually or together with friends, parishes and dioceses, Catholic schools and universities, youth organizations, WYD pilgrimage groups, religious communities, civic organizations, families and local communities.
Participants are invited to organize a local planting activity, plant and care for one or more trees following appropriate local environmental practices, and then share photographs and a short message through the campaign’s global platform.
Their participation will become visible through the Global Tree Planting Map, connecting local actions from communities around the world.
As more communities participate, the map will tell a growing story: thousands of individual actions becoming one visible global expression of hope and care for creation.
A year of action
The campaign will accompany young people throughout their journey toward Seoul, with key moments for participation and storytelling during the coming year.
Beginning during the Season of Creation 2026, communities are especially encouraged to make tree planting one of the concrete ways they respond to the call to care for creation.
During Advent, the campaign will invite participants to make tree planting a gift of hope to the world while sharing the first stories emerging from communities around the globe.
Throughout 2027, parishes, schools, universities, dioceses, youth ministries and WYD pilgrimage groups will be encouraged to organize their own activities, with another major moment of mobilization around Laudato Si’ Week 2027.
The journey will culminate around World Youth Day Seoul 2027, when the campaign will celebrate the collective impact and stories of young people and communities who have been growing hope around the world.
An invitation to plant hope
The Global Tree Planting Campaign also contributes to efforts to offset carbon emissions associated with the preparation and celebration of WYD Seoul 2027.
But its impact is intended to extend far beyond the number of trees planted.
By bringing together faith, care for creation and community action, the initiative seeks to invite young people to experience ecological responsibility as part of their journey of faith—and to inspire others to do the same.
One tree can inspire another. One local action can bring a community together. Thousands of communities can become a global movement.
As the journey toward Seoul continues, young people and communities everywhere are invited to take part:
Plant a tree. Care for it. Share your story. And help hope grow.
Growing Hope. Caring for Creation. Preparing for WYD Seoul 2027.
Learn more: Website: https://laudatosimovement.org//world-youth-day2027
About Laudato Si’ Movement
Laudato Si’ Movement is a global movement bringing together Catholics committed to caring for our common home. Inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, the Movement works to inspire and mobilize the Catholic community to respond to the ecological crisis through ecological conversion, sustainable lifestyles, and advocacy for climate and ecological justice.
Through a global network of individuals, communities, organizations, and Laudato Si’ Animators, the Movement helps turn faith into action for the care of creation and for our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.
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