In his message for World Mission Sunday 2024, which will take place October 20, Pope Francis draws inspiration from the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet (Matthew 22:1-14). His message emphasizes three key points:
1- “Go and invite” The mission involves tirelessly reaching out to all, inviting them to encounter God: “Tireless! God, great in love and rich in mercy, constantly sets out to encounter all men and women, and to call them to the happiness of his kingdom, even in the face of their indifference or refusal.”
2- “To the marriage feast” Like the king who asks the servants to bring the invitation to his son’s wedding banquet to all, we are called to continue Christ’s mission, preaching the Gospel and inviting all to the Eucharistic table, where the Lord feeds us with his word and with his Body and Blood. “While the world sets before us the various “banquets” of consumerism, selfish comfort, the accumulation of wealth and individualism, the Gospel calls everyone to the divine banquet, marked by joy, sharing, justice and fraternity in communion with God and with others.”
3- “Everyone” God desires everyone, without exception, to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. “Let us never forget, then, that in our missionary activities, we are asked to preach the Gospel to all. […] Christ’s missionary disciples have always had a heartfelt concern for all persons, whatever their social or even moral status. “
“Jubilee” is the name given to a particular year; the name comes from the instrument used to mark its launch. In this case, the instrument in question is the yobel, the ram’s horn, used to proclaim the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This (Jewish) holiday occurs every year, but it takes on special significance when it marks the beginning of a Jubilee year. We can find an early indication of it in the Bible: a Jubilee year was to be marked every 50 years, since this would be an “extra” year, one which would happen every seven weeks of seven years, i.e., every 49 years (cf. Leviticus 25:8-13). Even though it wasn’t easy to organize, it was intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields.
Quoting the prophet Isaiah, the Gospel of Luke describes Jesus’ mission in this way: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord,” (Luke 4:18-19; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2). Jesus lives out these words in his daily life, in his encounters with others and in his relationships, all of which bring about liberation and conversion.
In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII called the first Jubilee, also known as a “Holy Year,” since it is a time in which God’s holiness transforms us. The frequency of Holy Years has changed over time: at first, they were celebrated every 100 years; later, in 1343 Pope Clement VI reduced the gap between Jubilees to every 50 years, and in 1470 Pope Paul II made it every 25 years. There have also been “extraordinary” Holy Years: for example, in 1933 Pope Pius XI chose to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of the Redemption, and in 2015 Pope Francis proclaimed the Year of Mercy as an extraordinary jubilee. The way in which Jubilee Years are marked has also changed through the centuries: originally the Holy Year consisted of a pilgrimage to the Roman Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, later other signs were added, such as the Holy Door. By participating in the Holy Year, one is granted a plenary indulgence.
The dawning of a new year, as with any new beginning, is a perfect time to recall the mission to which each one of us is called. The words of Saint Pope John Paul II offer us insight: “Our own time, with humanity on the move and in continual search, demands a resurgence of the Church’s missionary activity. The horizons and possibilities for mission are growing even wider, and we Christians are called to an apostolic courage based upon trust in the Spirit.” (Redemptoris Missio, 30).
It is this conviction that has spurred the Pontifical Mission Societies onward – from the foundation of our first society by Blessed Pauline Jaricot in 1822 to the work we are called to do today. The mission of Christ the Redeemer, entrusted to the Church, is still far from completion. It must be renewed in our hearts daily.
Charles de Foucauld, founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus, wrote: “All our life, however silent it is… must be a witness of the Good News through example; our whole existence, whatever we are, must shout the Good News from the rooftops!” What Good News? That Jesus has come as one of us, has died, has risen and invites us — each and all of us — to the fullness of life now and forever. The past has been redeemed! We can stop being afraid. God is here.
In the dark days of winter, fear, distress or illness, our own lives can sometimes seem “silent” as Saint Charles de Foucauld describes. But we are still called upon to shout the Good News in whatever way we can.
How do we shout the Good News? We can join in solidarity with missionaries far from home and with the people they serve. Let us support them with our prayers and offerings and sufferings carried in our steadfast and hope-filled faith. In the years that I have spent working with the societies, I have been more convinced of the outstanding contribution they have made to the proclamation of the Gospel and to the nurturing of faith in every corner of our world.
We have perhaps no better example of prayer for the missions than in St. Therese of the Child Jesus. To her we ask:
Dear Little Flower of Lisieux, how wonderful was the short life you led. Though cloistered, you went far and wide through fervent prayers and great sufferings. You obtained from God untold help and graces for his evangelists.
Help all missionaries and teach all of us to spread Christianity in our own neighborhoods and family circles. Amen.
Thank you for your support for the missions. We pray we can continue to rely on each other in 2024 as we spread Christ’s love and act as witnesses to all.
Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, delivered on Dec. 24, 2023, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“A census of the whole earth” (cf. Lk 2:1). This was the context in which Jesus was born, and the Gospel makes a point of it. The census might have been mentioned in passing, but instead is carefully noted. And in this way, a great contrast emerges. While the emperor numbers the world’s inhabitants, God enters it almost surreptitiously. While those who exercise power seek to take their place with the great ones of history, the King of history chooses the way of littleness. None of the powerful take notice of him: only a few shepherds, relegated to the margins of social life.
The census speaks of something else. In the Scriptures, the taking of a census has negative associations. King David, tempted by large numbers and an unhealthy sense of self-sufficiency, sinned gravely by ordering a census of the people. He wanted to know how powerful he was. After some nine months, he knew how many men could wield a sword (cf. 2 Sam 24:1-9). The Lord was angered and the people suffered. On this night, however, Jesus, the “Son of David,” after nine months in Mary’s womb, is born in Bethlehem, the city of David. He does not impose punishment for the census but humbly allows himself to be registered as one among many. Here we see not a god of wrath and chastisement but the God of mercy, who takes flesh and enters the world in weakness, heralded by the announcement: “on earth peace among those whom he favors” (Lk 2:14). Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world (cf. Lk 2:7).
The census of the whole earth, in a word, manifests the all-too-human thread that runs through history: the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers, and figures, a world obsessed with achievement. Yet the census also manifests the way of Jesus, who comes to seek us through enfleshment. He is not the god of accomplishment, but the God of incarnation. He does not eliminate injustice from above by a show of power but from below, by a show of love. He does not burst on the scene with limitless power, but descends to the narrow confines of our lives. He does not shun our frailties, but makes them his own.
Pope Francis celebrates Christmas Eve Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, December 24, 2021. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Brothers and sisters, tonight we might ask ourselves: Which God do we believe in? In the God of incarnation or the god of achievement? Because there is always a risk that we can celebrate Christmas while thinking of God in pagan terms, as a powerful potentate in the sky; a god linked to power, worldly success, and the idolatry of consumerism. With the false image of a distant and petulant deity who treats the good well and the bad poorly; a deity made in our own image and likeness, handy for resolving our problems and removing our ills. God, on the other hand, waves no magic wand; he is no god of commerce who promises “everything all at once.” He does not save us by pushing a button, but draws near us, in order to change our world from within. Yet how deeply ingrained is the worldly notion of a distant, domineering, unbending, and powerful deity who helps his own to prevail against others! So many times this image is ingrained in us. But that is not the case: our God was born for all, during a census of the whole earth.
Let us look, then, to the “living and true God” (1 Thes 1:9). The God who is beyond all human reckoning and yet allows himself to be numbered by our accounting. The God who revolutionizes history by becoming a part of history. The God who so respects us as to allow us to reject him; who takes away sin by taking it upon himself; who does not eliminate pain but transforms it; who does not remove problems from our lives but grants us a hope that is greater than all our problems. God so greatly desires to embrace our lives that, infinite though he is, he becomes finite for our sake. In his greatness, he chooses to become small; in his righteousness, he submits to our injustice. Brothers and sisters, this is the wonder of Christmas: not a mixture of sappy emotions and worldly contentment, but the unprecedented tenderness of a God who saves the world by becoming incarnate. Let us contemplate the Child, let us contemplate the manger, his crib, which the angels call “a sign” for us (cf. Lk 2:12). For it truly is the sign that reveals God’s face, a face of compassion and mercy, whose might is shown always and only in love. He makes himself close, tender, and compassionate. This is God’s way: closeness, compassion, tenderness.
Sisters and brothers, let us marvel at the fact that he “became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Flesh: the very word evokes our human frailty. The Gospel uses this word to show us that God completely assumed our human condition. Why did he go to such lengths? Because he cares for us, because he loves us to the point that he considers us more precious than all else. Dear brother, dear sister, to God, who changed history in the course of a census, you are not a number but a face. Your name is written on his heart. But if you look to your own heart and think of your own inadequacies and this world that is so judgmental and unforgiving, you may feel it difficult to celebrate this Christmas. You may think things are going badly, or feel dissatisfied with your limitations, your failings, your problems, and your sins. Today, though, please, let Jesus take the initiative. He says to you, “For your sake, I became flesh; for your sake, I became just like you.” So why remain caught up in your troubles? Like the shepherds, who left their flocks, leave behind the prison of your sorrows and embrace the tender love of the God who became a child. Put aside your masks and your armor; cast your cares on him and he will care for you (cf. Ps 55:22). He became flesh; he is looking not for your achievements but for your open and trusting heart. In him, you will rediscover who you truly are: a beloved son or daughter of God. Now you can believe it, for tonight the Lord was born to light up your life; his eyes are alight with love for you. We have difficulty believing in this, that God’s eyes shine with love for us.
Christ does not look at numbers but at faces. However, who looks at him amid the many distractions and mad rush of a bustling and indifferent world? Who is watching? In Bethlehem, as crowds of people were caught up in the excitement of the census, coming and going, filling the inns, and engaged in petty conversation, a few were close to Jesus: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and then the Magi.Let us learn from them. They stood gazing upon Jesus, with their hearts set on him. They did not speak, they worshipped. Tonight, brothers and sisters, is a time of adoration, of worship.
Worship is the way to embrace the Incarnation. For it is in silence that Jesus, the Word of the Father, becomes flesh in our lives. Let us do as they did, in Bethlehem, a town whose name means “House of Bread.” Let us stand before him who is the Bread of Life. Let us rediscover worship, for to worship is not to waste time, but to make our time a dwelling place for God. It is to let the seed of the Incarnation bloom within us; it is to cooperate in the work of the Lord, who, like leaven, changes the world. To worship is to intercede, to make reparation, to allow God to realign history. As a great teller of epic tales once wrote to his son, “I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament … There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth” (J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 43, March 1941).
Brothers and sisters, tonight love changes history. Make us believe, Lord, in the power of your love, so different from the power of the world. Lord, make us, like Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi, gather around you and worship you. As you conform us ever more to yourself, we shall bear witness before the world to the beauty of your countenance.
Dossier edited by Stefano Lodigiani Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – According to information gathered by Agenzia Fides, 20 missionaries were killed in the world in 2023: 1 Bishop, 8 priests, 2 non-religious men, 1 seminarian, 1 novice and 7 laypersons. Although the lists compiled by Fides are always open to updates and corrections, there were 2 more missionaries killed compared to the previous year. This year the highest number of missionaries killed is again registered in Africa, where 9 missionaries were killed: 5 priests, 2 religious men, 1 seminarian, 1 novice. In America, 6 missionaries were murdered: 1 Bishop, 3 priests, 2 lay women. In Asia, 4 lay men and women died, killed by violence. Finally, a layman was killed in Europe.
As it has been for some time, Fides uses the term “missionary” for all the baptized, aware that “in virtue of their Baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, 120). Moreover, the annual list of Fides does not look only to Missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but tries to record all baptized engaged in the life of the Church who died in a violent way, not only “in hatred of the faith”. For this reason, we prefer not to use the term “martyrs”, if not in its etymological meaning of “witness”, in order not to enter into the question of the judgment that the Church might eventually deliver upon some of them, after careful consideration, for beatification or canonization.
One of the distinctive traits that most of the pastoral workers murdered in 2023 have in common is undoubtedly their normal life: that is, they did not carry out any sensational actions or out-of-the-ordinary deeds that could have attracted attention and put them in someone’s crosshairs. Scrolling through the few notes on the circumstances of their violent deaths, we find priests who were on their way to celebrate Mass or to carry out pastoral activities in some distant community; armed assaults perpetrated along busy roads; assaults on rectories and convents where they were engaged in evangelization, charity, human promotion. They found themselves, through no fault of their own, victims of kidnappings, acts of terrorism, involved in shootings or violence of various kinds.
In this ‘normal’ life lived in contexts of economic and cultural poverty, moral and environmental degradation, where there is no respect for life and human rights, but often only oppression and violence is the norm, they were also united by another ‘normality’, that of living the faith by offering their simple evangelical witness as pastors, catechists, health workers, animators of the liturgy, of charity…. They could have gone elsewhere, moved to safer places, or desisted from their Christian commitments, perhaps reducing them, but they did not do so, even though they were aware of the situation and the dangers they faced every day. Naive, in the eyes of the world. But the Church, and ultimately the world itself, moves forward thanks to them, who “are not flowers sprouting in a desert”, and to the many who, like them, testify their gratitude for the love of Christ by translating it into daily acts of fraternity and hope.
During the Angelus on the feast of Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian community, Pope Francis recalled: “There are still those – and there are many of them – who suffer and die to bear witness to Jesus, just as there are those who are penalized at various levels for the fact of acting in a way consistent with the Gospel, and those who strive every day to be faithful, without ado, to their good duties, while the world jeers and preaches otherwise. These brothers and sisters may also seem to be failures, but today we see that it is not the case. Now as then, in fact, the seed of their sacrifices, which seems to die, germinates and bears fruit, because God, through them, continues to work miracles (cf. Acts 18:9-10), changing hearts and saving men and women” (Angelus, December 26, 2023).
On May 26, 2020. Pope Francis received in the audience the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, and authorized the same Congregation to enact Decrees concerning the recognition of miracles, martyrdom, and heroic virtues.
On Wednesday, May 27, 2020, Archbishop Giampietro Dal Toso, President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, sent a statement announcing the recognition of the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Pauline Marie Jaricot, founder of the works of Propagation of the Faith.
Even though we do not yet have a date for a possible Beatification, all of us, Pontifical Mission Societies, are happy, because in this way we also recognize the charism of prayer and charity that has guided all our activity. Pauline Marie Jaricot was born on July 22, 1799, in Lyon and died on January 9, 1862.
She marks the beginning of that great missionary cooperation movement which was to gradually involve the whole Church. Passionate for the spread of the kingdom of God, she was firmly convinced that missionary work did not derive its effectiveness from human resources, but exclusively from God. In 1826, she founded the movement of the Living Rosary. She was declared Venerable by Pope John XXIII on February 25, 1963.
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “The Holy Father in the Message for World Mission Day of 2021, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, brings together the mission and the human experience of the mercy of Christ: he wants to tell us that there is no dichotomy nor separation between what we call spirituality and the work of the apostolate”: This is what Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, said in an interview with Agenzia Fides, commenting on the Message for Missionary World Day 2021, published today by the Holy See, entitled “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). “Spirituality – explains the Cardinal – means having a profound experience in one’s life of the merciful love of God, given to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, with his love for us, became one of us, our brother, the one who embraced our frailties, our labors and our dreams, our joys and hopes, as said in Gaudium et Spes. And, as Pope Francis recalls, when a person is loved, when he experiences being loved, as happened with the apostles, he cannot keep it for himself, but wants to share it: it is a beautiful and precious fact and thus becomes mission”. The Prefect continues: “The mission is therefore intimately linked to the love of Christ. It is not a job, it is not a human work, sometimes even felt as a heavy task, like a burden, but it springs from gratitude. It is a response of gratitude for the love received from God. Embraced and enveloped by the love of God, we want to share this love especially with those who do not feel loved, who feel abandoned, rejected, with those who live in the existential peripheries. We who have experienced God’s love, we who have listened and welcomed the Gospel of love, share it with our neighbor, with hearts overflowing with gratitude”. Another aspect that Pope Francis touches on in the Message is that of compassion: “Compassion – remarks Cardinal Tagle – is one of the ways to show the wounded humanity today, in the difficult times we live in, the face of God’s love. To proclaim the Gospel today, the language understood by humanity is that of charity and compassion: it is one of the aspects for sharing God’s love. Many people in the world were already fragile, marginalized, vulnerable before the pandemic. Today their situation has worsened: for this reason communicating, with our life, the presence and compassion of Christ will bring them consolation and new hope. The Pope calls us in the Message to be ‘missionaries of hope’, in a world that is so much in need of kindness, hospitality, mercy, fraternity. The mission is to carry out every action of life with the spirit of the Eucharist, it is to live a life of gratitude and thanksgiving to God. It is to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest gift we have received, and that gift bears fruit: we ourselves are the fruit of his Spirit and of his presence, we are those who bring the priceless gift of his love to the world”. Finally, the Prefect of Propaganda Fide wants to remember, in his conversation with Fides, the value of the missio ad gentes and of those who give their lives to carry it out: “Missionaries are those people who, to share the love of God, leave their security, the comfort of their life and go to the peripheries of the world, among the poorest and most disadvantaged people, among the suffering and the needy, witnessing with their life that God is love, and that he loves and gives himself to every creature. Missionaries are those who, like the apostles, cannot keep for themselves the love they have experienced: the Spirit pushes them to the ends of the earth to announce it and give it to those who need it most, to those who suffer and are desperate, to those who do not know him and have not experienced the immense love of Christ. Today, while the whole world is going through very difficult challenges such as that of the pandemic, Christ’s mission continues through each of us: where the mostneedy are, there are also missionaries, ready to console wounded hearts, in the name of Christ Jesus”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides)
On May 26, 2020. Pope Francis received in the audience the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, and authorized the same Congregation to enact Decrees concerning the recognition of miracles, martyrdom, and heroic virtues.
On Wednesday, May 27, 2020, Archbishop Giampietro Dal Toso, President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, sent a statement announcing the recognition of the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Pauline Marie Jaricot, founder of the works of Propagation of the Faith.
Even though we do not yet have a date for a possible Beatification, all of us, Pontifical Mission Societies, are happy, because in this way we also recognize the charism of prayer and charity that has guided all our activity. Pauline Marie Jaricot was born on July 22, 1799, in Lyon and died on January 9, 1862.
She marks the beginning of that great missionary cooperation movement which was to gradually involve the whole Church. Passionate for the spread of the kingdom of God, she was firmly convinced that missionary work did not derive its effectiveness from human resources, but exclusively from God. In 1826, she founded the movement of the Living Rosary. She was declared Venerable by Pope John XXIII on February 25, 1963.
