Pope Leo XIV announces “One in Christ, united in mission” for World Mission Day 2026, marking its 100th anniversary on Oct. 18.
Newsroom (01/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) The Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches, together with the Pontifical Mission Societies, announced Oct. 31 that Pope Leo XIV has selected “One in Christ, united in mission” as the theme for World Mission Day 2026.
The observance, set for Oct. 18, 2026 – the penultimate Sunday of October – will mark the 100th anniversary of the event’s establishment by Pope Pius XI in 1926 at the urging of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
The chosen theme echoes the pontiff’s episcopal motto, In Illo uno unum (“In the One, we are one”), and “highlights the unity of believers in the faith, founded on the unity of Christ with the Father, and the consequent shared mission of evangelization,” the Vatican statement said.
Pope Leo XIV, in a video message ahead of the 2025 World Mission Day, reflected on his own missionary experience in Peru. “When I served as a missionary priest and then bishop in Peru, I saw first-hand how the faith, the prayer and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities,” he said.
An Augustinian priest, the pope served in Peru’s missions from 1985 to 1999 and later as apostolic administrator and bishop of Chiclayo from 2014 to 2023.
The Holy Father’s full message for the 2026 observance will be released in early 2026 and will guide global initiatives to foster missionary awareness and responsibility among the faithful.
The year will also commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Pontifical Missionary Union, which St. Paul VI called “the soul of the other Pontifical Missionary Works” – the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of the Holy Childhood, and the Society of St. Peter the Apostle.
These four societies, under the framework of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium (Art. 67 §1), promote missionary consciousness among baptized Catholics and provide material support to emerging particular churches.
World Mission Sunday, observed annually since 1926, invites Catholics worldwide to pray for missionaries, learn about global evangelization efforts, and contribute financially to sustain the Church’s work in mission territories.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican.va
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