Background: World Mission Sunday
October 20, 2017
On October 22, the Church around the world will commemorate World Mission Sunday. The theme of the Pope’s message for the day is “Mission at the heart of the Christian faith.”
World Mission Sunday was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1926 and first commemorated in 1927. As St. John Paul II explained in 2001, Pope Pius “accepted a request by the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith to ‘establish a day of prayer and propaganda for the missions’ to be celebrated on the same day in every diocese, parish and institute of the Catholic world ... and to encourage offerings for the missions.”
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Further information:
- Pope Francis: Messages for World Mission Day
- Pope Benedict XVI: Messages for World Mission Day
- St. John Paul II: Messages for World Mission Day
- Blessed Paul VI: Messages for World Mission Day (Italian)
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