World Mission Sunday
“Missionaries of Hope Among all Peoples"
Official Video Message for World Mission Sunday 2025, delivered by Pope Leo XIV, calling upon Catholics around the world to unite in prayer, support, and missionary solidarity.
Pope Francis & Pope Leo XIV Message for World Mission Sunday
This year’s World Mission Sunday theme, “Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,” was chosen by the late Pope Francis and now takes on even deeper meaning under his successor, Pope Leo XIV. Our new Holy Father, who spent most of his priestly life as a missionary bishop in Peru, is the first pope in modern history to come directly from mission territory. His personal witness gives renewed urgency and authenticity to this year’s call to mission.
To enrich your parish’s celebration, you may wish to share excerpts from Pope Francis’ final World Mission Sunday message, as well as the special message Pope Leo XIV delivered to the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Both are included in these resources and provide a powerful way to connect your parish with the universal Church. Consider reading selections during Mass, posting the full texts on your parish website or bulletin, and encouraging parishioners to reflect on their inspiring themes.
By incorporating these messages into your World Mission Sunday celebration, you invite your community to be guided by Pope Francis’ enduring vision and inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s living missionary witness. Together, let us answer the call to bring Christ’s hope and love to all peoples!
Message of the Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, to the Faithful for World Mission Sunday 2025
“Today, we celebrate World Mission Sunday, a powerful reminder of our shared responsibility to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. It is a day when Catholics around the world unite in prayer and solidarity to support the missionary work of the Church. This year’s theme, ‘Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,’ is particularly moving because, even though it was chosen by Pope Francis, it reflects both the heart of our faith and the vision of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV”.
“Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples”
– Pope Leo XIV
May 9, 2025
“Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure. These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2025
“Missionaries of Hope Among all Peoples”
Dear brothers and sisters!
For World Mission Day in the Jubilee Year 2025, the central message of which is hope (cf. Bull Spes Non Confundit, 1), I have chosen the motto: “Missionaries of Hope Among all Peoples”. It reminds individual Christians and the entire Church, the community of the baptized, of our fundamental vocation to be, in the footsteps of Christ, messengers and builders of hope. I trust that it will be for everyone a time of grace with the faithful God who has given us new birth in the risen Christ “to a living hope” (cf. 1 Pet 1:3-4).
Here, I would like to mention some relevant aspects of our Christian missionary identity, so that we can let ourselves be guided by the Spirit of God and burn with holy zeal for a new evangelizing season in the Church, which is sent to revive hope in a world over which dark shadows loom (cf. Fratelli Tutti, 9-55).
October 5, 2025
Week 1: World Mission Month Begins
World Mission Month: A Call to Hope
Each October, the Church invites us to rediscover our missionary vocation. This year, Pope Leo XIV, following the inspiration of Pope Francis, calls us to become “Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,” inspired by St. Paul’s words: “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5).In the 50th anniversary year of Evangelii Nuntiandi, we are reminded that “modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers” (41). Through prayer, sacrifice, and giving, we too become witnesses—bringing the hope of Christ to those who long for love, justice, and peace.
Let us begin this month with open hearts, ready to respond to the Church’s call to support the1,124 mission territories where the Church is young, growing, and often persecuted. Together,may we be bearers of hope where it is needed most.
October 12, 2025
Week 2: Praying with the Mission Church
United in Prayer with the Missions
As World Mission Month continues, we are invited not only to give but to pray for the Church in mission territories. One powerful way to do this isby praying the World Mission Rosary, introduced by Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen in 1951.Each decade is a different color, representing a region of the world.
In Evangelii Nuntiandi, St. Pope Paul VI remindsus that prayer is the soul of all mission: “It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer” (75).Through our prayers, we unite ourselves with missionaries bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Let us offer our rosaries and Masses this week for those who bring Christ’s love to the margins, often at great personal cost. And let us ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle the fire of hope in our own hearts, that we may also be missionaries, wherever we are.
October 19, 2025
Week 3: World Mission Sunday
Today is World Mission Sunday!
Today, every parish across the globe joins together for the only worldwide collection mandated by Canon Law—World Mission Sunday. Your generosity today supports the Pope’s missions in more than 1,124 territories where the Church is young or struggling.
This year’s theme—“Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples”—is a call to embody the love of God, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5). Your offering today provides hope where despair too often dominates—through the building of churches, formation of seminarians and religious sisters, healthcare clinics, and Catholic schools.
Thank you for responding with faith, love, and generosity. As Pope Francis told us, “Each of us is a mission on this earth” (Evangelii Gaudium, 273). Together, we share in that mission by ensuring that no one is excluded from the invitation to encounter Christ.
October 26, 2025
Week 4: Continuing the Mission
Mission Does Not End with October
As we conclude World Mission Month, we remember that the Church’s missionary work is ongoing. Our baptismal call to share the Gospel continues beyond this season, inviting us to remain engaged—through prayer, storytelling, and generous action. The first World Mission Sunday was celebrated nearly a century ago in 1926. The need today remains urgent: missionaries still serve in remote villages, conflict zones, refugee camps, and urban slums. They bring more than aid—they bring Jesus Christ.As St. Paul VI reminded us 50 years ago in his historic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi: “The Church exists in order to evangelize” (14). We are grateful for your support this October—and we invite you to continue the journey. Subscribe to Mission Magazine, join us in praying the World Mission Rosary year-round, and stay connected to the Pope’s missions through www.sfarch.org/MissionsSF.Hope does not disappoint—and the world still needs hope.
Sunday, October 5, 2025
Mass Announcement — Beginning of World Mission Month
“Good morning/afternoon/evening, everyone.
As we begin the month of October, we enter into a sacred time dedicated to the Church’s mission around the world. Pope Leo XIV has called us to be Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples. This month, let us pray for missionaries serving in over 1,124 mission territories and ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the courage to share Christ with others. Look for ways to participate throughout the month—through prayer, formation, and support.”
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Mass Announcement — Prayer and Preparation
“Good morning/afternoon/evening.
Next Sunday is World Mission Sunday, a day when Catholics around the globe unite in prayer and generosity for the Church’s missionary work. This week, we invite you to pray the World Mission Rosary, created by Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Each decade represents a region of the world, reminding us that we are one family in mission. Please consider how you will participate next Sunday through your prayer and support.”
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Mass Announcement — World Mission Sunday
“Good morning/afternoon/evening.
Today is World Mission Sunday. We join Catholics around the world in prayer and generosity for the missions. The second collection today supports the Pope’s missions in some of the most vulnerable places on earth. This year’s theme, ‘Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,’ reminds us that our prayers and sacrifices bring light to those in darkness. Thank you for your generosity and for being part of this global mission.”
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Mass Announcement — Thanksgiving and Invitation
“Good morning/afternoon/evening.
On behalf of The Pontifical Mission Societies, thank you for your support of World Mission Sunday last week.. Your prayers and contributions are making a real difference in mission territories across the globe. As we close this World Mission
Month, let us continue to pray for those bringing hope to difficult places—and look for ways we can be missionaries of hope in our daily lives. The mission of the Church is ongoing—and it belongs to all of us.”
Sunday, October 5, 2025
Mass Announcement — Beginning of World Mission Month
“Good morning/afternoon/evening, everyone.
As we begin the month of October, we enter into a sacred time dedicated to the Church’s mission around the world. Pope Leo XIV has called us to be Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples. This month, let us pray for missionaries serving in over 1,124 mission territories and ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the courage to share Christ with others. Look for ways to participate throughout the month—through prayer, formation, and support.”
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Mass Announcement — Prayer and Preparation
“Good morning/afternoon/evening.
Next Sunday is World Mission Sunday, a day when Catholics around the globe unite in prayer and generosity for the Church’s missionary work. This week, we invite you to pray the World Mission Rosary, created by Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Each decade represents a region of the world, reminding us that we are one family in mission. Please consider how you will participate next Sunday through your prayer and support.”
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Mass Announcement — World Mission Sunday
“Good morning/afternoon/evening.
Today is World Mission Sunday. We join Catholics around the world in prayer and generosity for the missions. The second collection today supports the Pope’s missions in some of the most vulnerable places on earth. This year’s theme, ‘Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,’ reminds us that our prayers and sacrifices bring light to those in darkness. Thank you for your generosity and for being part of this global mission.”
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Mass Announcement — Thanksgiving and Invitation
“Good morning/afternoon/evening.
On behalf of The Pontifical Mission Societies, thank you for your support of World Mission Sunday last week.. Your prayers and contributions are making a real difference in mission territories across the globe. As we close this World Mission
Month, let us continue to pray for those bringing hope to difficult places—and look for ways we can be missionaries of hope in our daily lives. The mission of the Church is ongoing—and it belongs to all of us.”
World Mission Rosary Guide for Parishes, Prayer Groups, and Households – October 2025
Theme: Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples
Biblical Inspiration: “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
Each October, the Church around the world gathers in prayer and solidarity for the missions. Pope Francis, in his 2025 message for World Mission Sunday on October 19, summoned us “to set out in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus to become, with him and in him, signs and messengers of hope for all, in every place and circumstance that God has granted us to live.”
Then he prayed, “May all the baptized, as missionary disciples of Christ, make his hope shine forth in every corner of the earth!” By praying the World Mission Rosary, we unite ourselves spiritually with missionaries who bring this hope to the ends of the earth—often in places marked by suffering, poverty, and persecution.
- October 5, 2025
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Theme: Opening World Mission Month with Hearts of Hope - October 12, 2025
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Theme: Praying with the Global Church - October 19, 2025
World Mission Sunday / 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Theme: Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples - October 26, 2025
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Theme: Continuing the Mission Beyond October
What is World Mission Sunday?
Each year, on the second-to-last Sunday of October, Catholics around the world unite of World Mission Sunday—a day of prayer, reflection, and financial support for the Church’s missionary work in 1,124 mission territories. These are regions where the Church is still young, growing, and often facing poverty, conflict, or persecution. World Mission Sunday is not just the occasion of another second collection. It is the one Sunday when the entire Catholic Church—every parish, in every country—comes together to pray for and support the missionary efforts of the Church through The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies.
Why Does World Mission Sunday Matter?
World Mission Sunday is a visible sign of Catholic communion and solidarity. It is our opportunity to respond to Christ’s Great Commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
The collection taken up on this Sunday supports:
- The formation of seminarians and future religious sisters and brothers
- The education of children in Catholic schools
- Healthcare and pastoral care in remote and underserved regions
- The training of catechists and lay leaders
- The construction of churches, chapels, schools and mission centers
When we give, we are not simply making a donation—we are participating in a spiritual and missionary act of love, sustaining the Church where it cannot yet sustain itself. And when we pray for the missions, especially during World Mission Month, we are united with those bringing Christ’s hope to the peripheries of the world. In this year in which we are celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and the formulation of the Creed we profess together as a family each Sunday, we cannot help but ponder how each of the four marks of the Church has a missionary thrust to it.
We are one, united with our brothers and sisters throughout the world; holy, seeking to bring Christ and the means of holiness to everyone; catholic, meaning universal and interested in everyone everywhere; and apostolic, not just built on the apostles but missionary by nature.
What inspired the design of the World Mission Sunday poster?
In Vietnam’s Highlands, a Leper Colony Becomes the Face of World Mission Sunday 2025
By Ines San Martin,
photo credit: Margaret Murray
As Catholics across the globe prepare to Mark World Mission Sunday on October 19, this year’s focus turns to the vibrant yet often hidden Catholic communities in Vietnam – particularly a leprosy colony in the Diocese of Kon Tun, nestled in the country’s remote Central Highlands.
At the heart of the Church’s missionary outreach, World Mission Sunday is the one day each year when the entire global Church unites in prayer and generosity to support over 1,124 mission territories, regions where the Church is still young, materially poor, or faces persecution.
This year’s theme, “Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,” was chosen by Pope Francis before his death, and now takes on renewed significance under his successor, Pope Leo XIV. The new Holy Father—formerly a missionary bishop in Peru—is the first pope in modern history to have served most of his priestly life in mission territory.
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Every small gift makes a big difference!
Your gifts helps to sustain priests, religious, and lay pastoral leaders in more than 1,100 mission dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe, as they proclaim the Gospel, build the Church, and serve the poor. With them, you answer, Here I Am, Send Me.”
Examples of what your help can do:
- $20 assists with renovation of a chapel in the Fiji Islands.
- $25 provides support for a catechist in Peru.
- $40 supports a Sister in Kenya serving among homeless children.
- $100 can provide a home, food, medical help, and education for orphans in Thailand.
- $5,000 helps support two girls’ homes in Sri Lanka.
GIVE ONLINE HERE, OR SEND A CHECK TO:
Society for the Propagation of the Faith
Archdiocese of San Francisco
Mission Office
1 Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco CA 94019
The Archdiocese of San Francisco Pontifical Mission Society
- Pontifical Mission Society
- One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109
- (415) 614-5670
