World Mission Month celebrations are being launched across the globe as the universal mission family prepares for the historic Jubilee in Rome. Catholic Mission here in Australia joins in solidarity with missionaries worldwide for this landmark event. These days of prayer and festivity highlight the deep bonds that unite us with missionaries who continue to bring hope, faith and compassion to communities near and far.
The Vatican City is abuzz with excitement as, on 4 and 5 October, it will welcome missionaries from every continent who will gather in the Eternal City to celebrate the Jubilee of Hope. “Missionaries of hope among the peoples” is the theme Pope Francis chose for this year’s World Mission Sunday. This two-day celebration, long prepared in dioceses around the world, is dedicated to the missionaries “people of spring, with a gaze always full of hope to share with all,” as expressed in the prayer composed for their Jubilee.
This celebration in the Vatican marks the beginning of a month full of missionary activities worldwide. To launch the festivities, Pope Leo XIV will open the Jubilee with an audience, followed by a pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica on the morning of 4 October.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, will then deliver a lecture entitled “The Missio ad Gentes Today: A Reflection.” Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, Consolata missionary and Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, will present “Whispering the Gospel Beyond All Borders and Barriers,” highlighting his vision of proclaiming the Gospel as a “whisper” in the lands where he serves.
The gathering will conclude with Masses and vigils of missionary prayer, organised by language groups to reflect the diversity of the Church, in several churches near St Peter’s Basilica. All missionary religious communities in dioceses, parishes and local communities worldwide are invited to join spiritually in these vigils, in communion with those present in Rome, to mark the Jubilee of the Missionary World on a truly global scale.
As part of the celebrations, Catholic Mission and the Pontifical Mission Societies network has, for the sixth consecutive year, produced an international video through its Commission for Communication, Faith-Fundraising and Digital Transformation. This simple yet powerful tool “connects” more than 120 national offices of the Pontifical Mission Societies with a single message.
“Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples,” the theme chosen by Pope Francis for this year’s World Mission Sunday message, is the central theme of the video, which focuses on hope in its imagery, accompanied by the joyful Zambian hymn of thanksgiving “Nakulakutotela.” The video features the voice of the late Pope Francis, who calls us “not to be a blind Church, but a Church enlightened by Christ, that brings the light of the Gospel to others. Not a static Church, but a missionary Church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world” (Homily at the conclusion of the General Assembly of the World Synod, 27 October 2024).
Images from Zambia, Cambodia, India, Timor-Leste and Mongolia follow one another, intertwined with those of missionaries who share what it means to bring hope in the most diverse and complex situations. Voices include Sister Alma from Timor-Leste, the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Zambia, Colombia, the Philippines and Fiji, Father Matthew from Malawi, Thao from Australia and Brother Bahjat from Syria. The video also includes Pope Leo XIV, who emphasises that the Church, with all her members, is increasingly called “to be a missionary Church, that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word…and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity” (Homily at the Mass for the Beginning of the Pontificate, 18 May 2025). The video concludes with Pope Leo XIV’s call to be missionaries of hope among all peoples, echoing the motto of World Mission Sunday. It is available in about 20 languages on the Pontifical Mission Societies’ YouTube channel.
To respond to the call of the Universal Church in this historic moment, Catholic Mission collaborated on gathering the voices of missionaries from around the world to witness to our unity and the breadth of our global network. We invite you to listen to their message of hope and to join us in this celebration by keeping missionaries everywhere in your prayers and supporting the vital work of mission that brings hope and faith to communities across the world. Let us make this month dedicated to Mission a time of renewed commitment, joyful prayer and generous action together.
