October invites focus on Church missionary activities

By CathNews New Zealand

October 3rd, 2025

Sister Jane with women helped through the Maize Mill Project in the Diocese of Mpika in Zambia. The work is supported by Catholic Mission. (Pontifical Mission Societies)

October is when Catholics throughout the world unite in prayer, solidarity and support for the Church’s missionary activities.

Globally, a collection is taken up at Mass on World Mission Sunday for the Pontifical Mission Societies to assist Pope Leo’s missionary endeavours. The New Zealand office of the Pontifical Mission Societies is part of an international network in more than 120 countries.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis released a message for World Mission Sunday 2025, which is on October 19, encouraging all Catholics to be “missionaries of hope” who actively participate in the Church’s evangelising mission through a “communion of prayer and action”.

The Catholic News Agency reported that Pope Francis said he chose “Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples” as the motto for the 2025 mission day – a reference to the Jubilee Year theme, “Pilgrims of Hope”.

To continue Jesus’ “ministry of hope for humanity”, Pope Francis said each Catholic must first develop “a mature faith in Christ” that is nourished by prayer

“Let us not forget that prayer is the primary missionary activity,” Pope Francis wrote.

“In following Christ the Lord, Christians are called to hand on the good news by sharing the concrete life situations of those whom they meet and thus to be bearers and builders of hope,” the Pope added.

In order to be builders of hope in both advanced and developing nations, Francis said, the Church must recognise that Jesus Christ, the “divine Missionary of hope”, wants to speak to the heart of every man and woman and offer them salvation through his followers.

“Christian communities can be harbingers of a new humanity in a world that, in the most ‘developed’ areas, shows serious symptoms of human crisis,” he said. “In the most technologically advanced nations, ‘proximity’ is disappearing: We are all interconnected but not related.”

Expressing his special love for the poor, the Pope said the Church’s missionaries must give particular attention to the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. He also shared his particular gratitude for the work of Pontifical Mission Societies who “have gone forth to other nations to make known the love of God in Christ” and built new churches.

FULL STORY

Mission Sunday 2025 | MissioAotearoa & MissioNZ (MissioNZ)

Pope Francis urges all Catholics to be ‘missionaries of hope’ through prayer and action (CNA)