VATICAN - Message for World Mission Day 2026: Pope Leo XIV invites everyone to collaborate with the Pontifical Mission Societies with gratitude

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “We thank the Pope for his explicit invitation to all to collaborate with the Pontifical Mission Societies with a spirit of gratitude,” said Father Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union (PUM), in a commentary on the section about the Pontifical Mission Societies in Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 100th World Mission Day in 2026. The message was published on Sunday, January 25, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle.
In the text, Pope Leo XIV refers, as he did in his address to the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies (see Fides, 22/5/2025), once again to the years he spent as a missionary and bishop in Peru, during which he had the opportunity to learn about the work of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the service of missionary collaboration.
“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,” the Pope writes, citing each of the four Pontifical Mission Societies. The Pope also recalls the establishment of World Mission Day in 1926 at the suggestion of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, whose founder, Blessed Pauline Jaricot, initiated the “Living Rosary” 200 years ago.
“This is the first message for World Mission Day from Pope Leo XIV, the missionary who became Pope. It has great spiritual depth and speaks to the entire Church. It is a message not only for the ‘experts’—those on the front lines of missionary work and/or missionary animation and formation — but for all Catholics worldwide: bishops, priests, religious, and laity,” explains the Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union, the Pontifical Society that celebrates its 110th anniversary this year, which the Pope specifically mentions in the message.
In his message, the Bishop of Rome emphasizes the contribution of the Pontifical Missionary Union, which strives “to revive and shape the missionary spirit of priests, religious, and laity, and to promote the union of all forces involved in evangelization,” and recalls the figure of its founder, Blessed Paolo Manna, and his Motto: “The whole Church for the conversion of the whole world.”
Each year, the Pontifical Missionary Union focuses its program on the Pope’s message for World Mission Day, aiming to offer everyone, from the national directions of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the opportunity to engage with the text in various ways.
“First of all,” explains Father Anh Nhue, “I am grateful to God, the source of all inspiration, and I thank the Pope once again for the gift of this message. I renew my invitation to read it in its entirety and not limit oneself to articles or comments, as the message is very rich each year. Since the various National Directions of the Pontifical Mission Societies worldwide, as always, are responsible for translating the Pope’s message into all local languages, the International Secretariat of the Pontifical Mission Societies will launch a proven continuing education program based on the Pope’s text through webinars and/or in-person meetings in various languages, including English, French, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese. It was Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle who, during a General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies, proposed to our National Directions a continuing education program on missionary spirituality that does not focus only on the theme or a few sentences of the text, but rather draws on the rich content of the Pope’s annual message.” Sharing one's impressions and discussing the Holy Father's message together not only helps formation but also strengthens those who do it. Father Anh Nhue is convinced of this, and in an interview with Fides, he explains some thoughts from his introduction to the message, which he is currently working on in preparation for upcoming training sessions.
"From a biblical and spiritual perspective," explains Father Anh Nhue, "the message seems to spring from deep meditation on Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper before his Passion. This is the prayer in the Gospel of John, chapter 17, which is quoted throughout the text as the starting point for all reflection. Indeed, the three points the Pope addresses in his message emerge from this prayer. “It is not simply a list of suggestions, but a spiritual meditation undertaken by the Pope to encourage everyone, as stated at the beginning of the message, to allow themselves to be guided and inspired once again by divine grace, to renew the fire of the missionary vocation within us, and to move forward together in the commitment to evangelization in a new missionary age,” affirms the Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union, who recommends rereading the passage in the Gospel of John (chapter 17) to better understand the content of the message.
“In the first point, ‘One in Christ,’” the Vietnamese Conventual Franciscan concludes, “Pope Leo XIV calls on everyone to renew their lives in unity with Christ, to live and acknowledge unity among themselves as his disciples, and to recognize that Christ is at the center, at the center of our lives, our activities, and even more so in our missionary work. In the second point, ‘United in Mission,’ he emphasizes…” he states that unity in Christ within the Church is not an end in itself, but serves the mission. In the third point, “Mission of Love,” he affirms that love is the essence and the inexhaustible source of the evangelizing mission, which consists of proclaiming, living, and sharing God’s faithful love. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 30/1/2026)

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