An Oblate missionary who has spent decades serving vulnerable people in South Korea has urged the Catholic Church to expand street outreach ahead of World Youth Day 2027.
Father Vincenzo Bordo, OMI, known in Korea as Father Kim Ha-jong, told the Vatican’s Fides News Agency that the scale of the problem led to the creation of Azit, a movement that sends staff and volunteers into the streets to reach young people and help them recover and reintegrate into society.
“There are an estimated 250,000 street children in Korea. That is an enormous number. So we said to ourselves: if they do not come to us, we will go to them,” Bordo said.
He described South Korea as “a rapidly changing society where new forms of poverty are constantly emerging.”
Azit teams travel through the city by bus from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. looking for young people living on the streets. Bordo said he is working to establish the initiative in every diocese in Korea and hopes it can become “a message for the universal Church.”
“Azit is Jesus’ method. When Jesus began his ministry, he did not build a church in Nazareth and wait for people to come. He went out onto the streets of Palestine to meet people and be with them,” he said.
Seoul will host World Youth Day in August 2027. Bordo said preparations for the gathering should also focus on people already living on the margins.
“We should not wait for the most vulnerable people to come into Church structures. We have to go out and meet them where they are,” he said.
Bordo spent 36 years in pastoral ministry in Korea, working with people experiencing homelessness, young people who had run away from home, and elderly people living alone.
His experiences are recounted in I’ll Be Waiting for You in Seoul, a book he is presenting in Italy in connection with WYD 2027.
Shin Hyung-sik, Korea’s ambassador to the Holy See, said the gathering could become an opportunity for young people “to grow in faith and engage in cultural exchange” and share “a message of peace and solidarity.”
Bordo’s ministry also includes Casa di Anna, a center that serves about 500 meals a day and has provided more than 3 million meals over the years. It also offers legal and medical assistance, free medicines, employment support, therapy programs and accommodation.
Ten residential homes have been established for street children, while a dormitory at the center houses 30 homeless people.
Bordo said the book’s title also reflects the expectations of people on the margins.
“The book has this title because so many people are waiting for the Pope, waiting for the young people who will come. But the poor are waiting too. They have their own hopes and expectations,” he said.
