World Mission Day: Pope Leo XIV makes a special appeal for World Mission Day
‘Thank you for everything you will do to help me help missionaries throughout the world’
To mark World Mission Day on 19 October, the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, is asking every single parish in the world to help support missionaries who are working and serving in the remotest corners of the earth. In a video message, Pope Leo XIV emphasises how World Mission Day, which next year celebrates its centenary, is a special day in which the whole Church unites in prayer for missionaries and for the fruitfulness of their apostolic labours. The Pope recalls his missionary experience in Peru: ‘When I served as a missionary priest and then bishop in Peru, I saw first-hand how the faith, the prayer and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities’. On 22 May this year, Pope Leo addressed the participants at the annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies, which are entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelisation (Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches). In recalling his pastoral experience during his years of ministry in South America, Pope Leo spoke with gratitude about the ‘indispensable’ service the Pontifical Mission Societies offer to the Church’s mission of evangelisation. In his video message, available in different languages on the Vatican.va and Vatican news websites, the Holy Father makes this appeal: ‘I urge every Catholic parish in the world to take part in World Mission Sunday. 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’. Towards the end of his message for this 99th World Mission Day, Pope Leo XIV invites us to reflect together on our baptismal call to be ‘missionaries of hope among all peoples,’ as the theme chosen by Pope Francis for this year reminds us. To conclude, our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV invites us all: ‘Let us commit ourselves anew to the sweet and joyful task of bringing Christ Jesus, our Hope, to the ends of the earth. Thank you for everything you will do to help me help missionaries throughout the world’.
Transcript of the Holy Father's Appeal for World Mission Sunday 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
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 then bishop in Peru, I saw first-hand how the faith, the prayer and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities.I urge every Catholic parish in the world to take part in World Mission Sunday. 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," let us commit ourselves anew to the sweet and joyful task of bringing Christ Jesus our Hope to the ends of the earth. Thank you for everything you will do to help me help missionaries throughout the world.
God bless you all!
