Pope, in letter, marks 1200th anniversary of St. Ansgar’s evangelizing mission in Denmark
January 21, 2026
Pope Leo XIV has written a Latin-language letter commemorating the 1200th anniversary of the beginning of St. Ansgar‘s evangelizing mission in Denmark.
Addressing Cardinal Pietro Parolin—his Secretary of State and his legate to the January 25 solemn Mass in Copenhagen marking the occasion—Pope Leo wrote that even though Christians may be corrupted by worldliness, “the exercise of charity remains the dynamic foundation of the Church’s mission.”
“For she, like a mother, moved by the need to constantly remember the Gospel, can never forget her own poor, making the whole history of God’s love fruitful with the purpose of His love, who dwelt among us so that we might be freed from slavery, fears, sin and the power of death and who became poor so that through his poverty we might be rich,” Pope Leo wrote in his letter, dated December 8 and released on January 20.
Thus, God’s preferential love for the poor moved St. Ansgar, a young Benedictine monk, to preach the Gospel in Scandinavia, the Pope said.
The Pontiff asked Cardinal Parolin to encourage the faithful to follow in his “footsteps of charity,” pursuing piety and good works with renewed fervor.
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