MissioNZ director meets Pope, gives him All Blacks cap

Fr Pui’s meeting with the Holy Father took place at a June 1 private audience involving national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, who were attending their 2026 general assembly. Fr Pui thought it was fitting to bring the Pope a gift; he gave him an All Blacks cap.

Fr Pui also reiterated the invitation for Pope Leo to visit Aotearoa New Zealand – something he had proposed at his first meeting the the new Pope last year. Bishop Steve Lowe, on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, has also invited Pope Leo to visit New Zealand.

This year marks 40 years since St John Paul II visited this country. It also marks the 100th year of celebrating Mission Sunday.

On May 27, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle addressed more than 100 national directors at the opening of the Pontifical Mission Societies’ general assembly. He reflected on Pope Leo XIV’s Message for World Mission Day 2026, drawing inspiration from Jesus’ prayer for unity and the experience of the first Christian communities.

Cardinal Tagle, the Cardinal Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation (Section for First Evangelisation and New Particular Churches), drew on John 17, when Jesus prays that “they may all be one”.

The unity for which Jesus prays, the Cardinal said, is not “just a matter of organisation. This is not just a matter of planning and strategy, but of divine communion shared with the disciples and the divine communion into which the disciples are invited or allowed by grace to enter”.

“When we talk about Baptism as the sacrament of faith and also the sacrament of mission, we should go back to this fundamental element of unity, of communion with the Trinity,” the Filipino cardinal said.

The unity of Christians in the prayer of Jesus is like a missionary condition: “a condition for missionary authenticity, credibility. The unity of Christians is a missionary declaration of who our God is. And we say, ‘Look at us, because in us dwells the God of communion’. So the life of Christians should be in itself a living word to the world”, the cardinal said.

Cardinal Tagle summarised another aspect of the Pope’s message by speaking of a “Mission of Love” – “for love is the substance of unity and also the substance of mission”.

Recalling a visit to a refugee camp in Lebanon, the cardinal testified how this “mission of love” makes Christ desirable. On that occasion, when asked by some refugees why Christians from different countries were present to help the local population, he replied: “Because our teacher, our Lord, Jesus Christ, told us to love everyone. And that is why we are here.”

At that point, the cardinal recalled, a young girl replied: “I want to encounter that Jesus. He will be a good friend.”

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Fr Michael Pui… (NZCBC/Facebook)

Prayers and Reflections | MissioAotearoa & MissioNZ (Agenzia Fides/MissioNZ)

General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies May 27-June 3 (MissioNZ)