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MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
FOR THE 100th WORLD MISSION DAY 2026
[18 October 2026]
One in Christ, united in mission
Dear brothers and sisters,
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).
1. One in Christ – Missionary disciples united
in him and with our brothers and sisters
The mystery of union with Christ lies at the
heart of mission. Before his Passion, Jesus
prayed to the Father, “that they may all be one.
As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may
they also be in us” (Jn 17:21). These words
reveal Jesus’ deepest desire, as well as the
identity of the Church as a community of his
disciples. That is, a communion that flows from
the Trinity, and continues to be sustained by
the Trinity. A communion at the service of
fraternity among all human beings and harmony
with all creation.
Being a Christian is not primarily about
practices or ideas; it is a life in union with
Christ, in which we share in his filial
relationship with the Father in the Holy Spirit.
It means abiding in Christ, like branches on the
vine (cf. Jn 15:4), immersed in the life of the
Trinity. This union gives rise to mutual
communion among believers and is the source of
all missionary fruitfulness. Indeed, just as
Saint John Paul II taught, “communion represents
both the source and the fruit of mission”
(Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici,
32).
In this context, the Church’s primary missionary
responsibility is to renew and sustain spiritual
and fraternal unity among its members. In many
situations, we encounter conflicts,
polarization, misunderstandings and a lack of
mutual trust. When this occurs even within our
communities, it undermines our witness. The
evangelizing mission that Christ entrusted to
his disciples requires, above all, hearts that
are reconciled and eager for communion.
Consequently, it is important to intensify
ecumenical efforts with all Christian Churches,
building upon the opportunities arising from the
joint celebration of the 1700th anniversary of
the Council of Nicaea.
Last but not least, being “one in Christ” calls
us to keep our gaze fixed on the Lord, so that
he may truly be at the center of our lives and
communities, the center of every word, action
and interpersonal relationship, leading us to
say with amazement: “It is no longer I who live,
but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). By
constantly listening to his word and through the
grace of the Sacraments, it will be possible for
us to become living stones in the Church. Today,
the Church is called to take up the fundamental
themes of the Second Vatican Council and the
subsequent Papal Magisterium, in particular that
of Pope Francis. In fact, as Saint Paul says,
“we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus
Christ as Lord” (2 Cor 4:5). For this reason, I
reiterate the words of Saint Paul VI: “There is
no true evangelization if the name, the
teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom
and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of
God are not proclaimed” (Apostolic Exhortation
Evangelii Nuntiandi, 22). This process of
genuine evangelization begins in the heart of
every Christian in order to reach all of
humanity.
Therefore, the more united we are in Christ, the
better able we will be to carry out together the
mission that he entrusts to us.
2. United in mission – That the world may
believe in Christ the Lord
The unity of disciples is not an end in itself;
it is directed towards mission. Jesus states
this clearly: “So that the world may believe
that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21). It is through
the witness of a reconciled, fraternal and
united community that the proclamation of the
Gospel acquires its full communicative power.
From this perspective, it is worth recalling the
motto of Blessed Paolo Manna, “All the Churches
united for the conversion of the whole world,”
which succinctly expresses the ideal that
inspired the establishment of the Pontifical
Missionary Union in 1916. On its 110th
anniversary, I convey my gratitude and my
blessing for its commitment to inspiring and
forming the missionary spirit of priests,
consecrated persons and lay faithful, promoting
the unity of all evangelizing efforts. In fact,
no baptized person is exempt from or indifferent
to mission: everyone, each according to their
own vocation and condition of life, participates
in the great work that Christ has entrusted to
his Church. As Pope Francis repeatedly reminded
us, proclaiming the Gospel is an action that is
always harmonious, communal and synodal.
For this reason, unity in mission means
safeguarding and nurturing the spirituality of
communion and missionary cooperation. By daily
fostering this attitude, divine grace gradually
teaches us to see our brothers and sisters
through the eyes of faith. We also learn to
recognize joyfully the good that the Spirit
inspires in each person, to embrace diversity as
a treasure, to bear one another’s burdens and
always to seek the unity that comes from above.
Indeed, we all share in one mission in “one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all and in
all” (Eph 4:5-6). This spirituality constitutes
the daily expression of missionary discipleship.
It helps us to recover a universal vision of the
Church’s evangelizing mission, and to overcome a
lack of coordinated efforts and the creation of
factions among the followers of the one Lord —
such as “I belong to Paul,” “I to Apollos” (cf.
1 Cor 1:10-12).
Needless to say, missionary unity should not be
understood as uniformity, but rather as the
convergence of different charisms for the same
purpose, namely to make Christ’s love visible
and to invite everyone to encounter him.
Evangelization is achieved when local
communities cooperate with one another and when
cultural, spiritual and liturgical differences
are fully and harmoniously expressed in the same
faith. I therefore encourage all institutions in
the Church to strengthen their sense of
ecclesial missionary communion and to develop
creative and concrete ways of cooperating with
one another for and in the mission.
In this regard, I would like to thank the
Pontifical Mission Societies for their service
to missionary cooperation, which I experienced
with gratitude during my ministry in Peru. These
Societies — Propagation of the Faith, Holy
Childhood, Saint Peter the Apostle and
Pontifical Missionary Union — continue to
nurture and form missionary awareness for the
faithful of all ages, and to promote a network
of prayer and charity that connects communities
throughout the world. Here, it is worth noting
that the founder of the Society of the
Propagation of the Faith, Blessed Pauline Marie
Jaricot, established the Living Rosary two
hundred years ago. Even today it continues to
bring together many of the faithful throughout
the world to pray for every spiritual and
missionary need. It is also worth remembering
that, following a proposal from the Society of
the Propagation of the Faith, Pius XI
established World Mission Day in 1926. The
annual offerings collected on this day are
distributed by the Society, on behalf of the
Pope, to support the various needs of the
Church’s mission. The four Societies, therefore,
as a whole and each in its own specificity,
still play a valuable role for the entire
Church. They are a living sign of unity and
ecclesial missionary communion. I invite
everyone to work with them in a spirit of
gratitude.
3. Mission to love – Proclaiming, living and
sharing God’s faithful love
If unity is the condition of mission, love is
its essence. The Good News that we are sent to
proclaim to the world is not an abstract ideal;
it is the Gospel of God’s faithful love, which
became flesh in the face and life of Jesus
Christ.
The mission of the disciples and the Church as a
whole is to continue the mission of Christ in
the Holy Spirit: a mission born of love, lived
in love, and leading to love. In fact, the Lord
himself, in his great prayer to the Father
before his Passion, after invoking unity among
his disciples, concludes: “so that the love with
which you have loved me may be in them, and I in
them” (Jn 17:26). Impelled by the love of
Christ, the Apostles then went out to evangelize
for Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). In the same way,
throughout the centuries, multitudes of
Christians — martyrs, confessors and
missionaries — have given their lives to make
this divine love known to the world. Thus,
guided by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love,
the Church’s evangelizing mission will continue
until the end of time.
I would like to express my special gratitude to
today’s ad gentes missionaries. Like Saint
Francis Xavier, they have left their homeland,
their families and all sense of security in
order to proclaim the Gospel and bring Christ
and his love to places that are often
challenging, poor, conflict-ridden or culturally
distant. Despite adversity and human
limitations, they continue to give themselves
joyfully, because they know that Christ himself,
and his Gospel, are the greatest treasures we
can offer. Through their perseverance, they
demonstrate that God’s love transcends all
barriers. The world still needs these courageous
witnesses of Christ, and ecclesial communities
still need new missionary vocations. We must
always keep them close to our hearts and
continually pray to the Father for them. May he
grant us the gift of young people and adults who
are willing to leave everything behind to follow
Christ on the path of evangelization even to the
ends of the earth!
Filled with admiration for men and women
missionaries, I make a special appeal to the
whole Church to join them in the mission of
evangelization through the witness of our lives
in Christ, through prayer and through our
contributions to the missions. As Saint Francis
of Assisi said, “Love is not loved,” and we look
to him in a special way on the eight hundredth
anniversary of his passing to heaven. Let us
find inspiration in his desire to live in the
love of the Lord and to transmit it to those
both near and far, because, as he said, “this
love Who hath loved us much is much to be loved”
(Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, The Life of
Saint Francis, chap. IX, 1; Fonti Francescane,
1161). Let us also draw inspiration from the
zeal of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who
declared that she would continue her mission
even after death: “I shall desire in heaven the
same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus
and to make him loved” (Letter 220 to l’Abbé
Bellière, 24 February 1897).
Inspired by these testimonies, let us all commit
to contributing to the great mission of
evangelization — which is always a work of love
—according to our own vocation and the gifts we
have received. Your prayers and practical
support, particularly on World Mission Day, will
be a great help in bringing the Gospel of God’s
love to everyone, especially the poorest and
those most in need. Every gift, no matter how
small, becomes a meaningful act of missionary
communion. I renew my heartfelt gratitude “for
everything you will do to help me help
missionaries throughout the world” (Video
Message for World Mission Day 2025, 19 October
2025). To foster spiritual communion, I give you
my blessing with this simple prayer:
Holy Father, make us one in Christ, rooted in
his love that unites and renews. May all members
of the Church be united in mission, docile to
the Holy Spirit, courageous in bearing witness
to the Gospel, proclaiming and daily embodying
your faithful love for all creatures.
Bless all missionary men and women, support them
in their efforts, and watch over them in hope!
Mary, Queen of Missions, accompany our work of
evangelization in every corner of the earth:
make us instruments of peace, and grant that the
whole world may recognize in Christ the light
that saves. Amen.
From the Vatican, 25 January 2026, Third Sunday
in Ordinary Time, Feast of the Conversion of
Saint Paul
LEO PP. XIV
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