World Mission Sunday stands as a powerful testament to our shared Catholic identity. Held annually on the second to last Sunday of October, this special day unites Catholics across continents in a singular purpose: supporting the Church where it faces its greatest challenges. Instituted by Pope Pius XI nearly a century ago, this collection remains unique as the only worldwide effort directly sustaining 1,124 mission territories where the Church is nascent, vulnerable, or facing persecution.
World Mission Sunday calls Catholics worldwide to support the Church where it’s young or challenged. Your prayers and donations provide essential resources for communities that cannot sustain themselves—funding church construction, pastoral care, education, and healthcare. When your parish participates, you join Catholics everywhere in making possible the work of missionaries who build churches, train seminarians, support catechists, and serve vulnerable communities. Together, we fulfill our baptismal call to share the Gospel and become one Church bringing hope to all peoples.
For World Mission Day 2026, which marks the centenary of a celebration established by Pius XI that is very dear to the Church, I have chosen the theme “One in Christ, united in mission.” Following the Jubilee Year, I wish to encourage the whole Church to continue its missionary journey with joy and zeal in the Holy Spirit. This requires hearts united in Christ, reconciled communities and, in everyone, a willingness to cooperate with generosity and trust.
As we reflect on being one in Christ and united in mission, let us allow ourselves to be guided and inspired by divine grace, “to renew in ourselves the fire of our missionary vocation” and advance together in the commitment to evangelization, in this “new missionary age” in the history of the Church (Homily, Jubilee of the Missionary World and of Migrants, 5 October 2025). Continue Reading
