In a video message, Pope Leo XIV calls on every Catholic parish to take part in World Mission Sunday, 19 October, recalling how the generosity that day concretely enables and sustains the good work of missionaries worldwide, as he saw firsthand while serving in Peru.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“I urge every Catholic parish in the world to take part in World Mission Sunday,” insisted Pope Leo XIV in a video message for the occasion of World Mission Sunday.
World Mission Sunday is held every year on the second-to-last Sunday of October. This year it will take place on 19 October with the theme of “Missionaries of Hope among the peoples.”
The video begins with the Holy Father recalling that on World Mission Sunday every year, the whole Church prays, united, particularly for missionaries and the fruitfulness of their apostolic labors.
“When I served as a missionary priest and Bishop in Peru,” Pope Leo illustrated, “I saw first-hand how the faith, the prayer and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities.”
Hence, he gave all Catholic parishes some concrete homework.
“I urge every Catholic parish in the world to take part in World Mission Sunday,” Pope Leo said, underscoring, “Your prayers, your support will help spread the Gospel, provide for pastoral and catechetical programs, help to build new churches, and care for the health and educational needs of our brothers and sisters in mission territories.”
“This October 19th, as we reflect together on our baptismal call to be ‘missionaries of hope among the peoples,'” the Pope encouraged, “let us commit ourselves anew to the sweet and joyful task of bringing Christ Jesus our Hope to the ends of the earth.”
The Holy Father concluded by thanking parishes worldwide for everything you they do to help him to help missionaries throughout the world and imparting his Apostolic Blessing.
