Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – With the beginning of the month of October dedicated to mission, numerous initiatives have been launched in all National Directions of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) to raise awareness of the theme of “Missio ad gentes” in preparation for World Mission Sunday. These include prayer initiatives such as novenas and rosaries, information and educational activities in schools and parish meetings, missionary activities in squares and streets, and, above all, the aim is to create material to be disseminated and distributed through all possible channels, including a video conceived for the sixth consecutive year by the International Commission for Communication, Faith-Fundraising and Digital Transformation of the Pontifical Mission Societies. It represents a simple yet valuable tool for ideally “connecting” all the more than 120 Directions of the Pontifical Mission Societies worldwide with a single message.”Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples” – the theme chosen by Pope Francis for this year’s World Mission Sunday message – is the central theme of this video, which focuses on the theme of hope in the images, accompanied by the joyful Zambian hymn of thanksgiving to God entitled “Nakulakutotela.” In the video, one hears the voice of the late Pope Francis, who calls us “not to be a blind Church, but a Church, enlightened by Christ, that brings the light of the Gospel to others. Not a static Church, but a missionary Church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world” (cf. Homily at the conclusion of the General Assembly of the World Synod, October 27, 2024).Images from Zambia, Cambodia, India, East Timor, and Mongolia follow one another, intertwined with those of missionaries who seek to explain what it means to offer and transmit hope in the most diverse places and in the most complex situations. Before hearing the voices of Sister Alma from East Timor, the National Directions of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Zambia, Colombia, the Philippines, and Fiji, Father Matthew from Malawi, Thao from Australia, and Brother Bahjat from Syria, the video also includes Pope Leo, who emphasizes that the Church herself, with all her members, is increasingly called “to be a missionary Church, that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word…and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity” (cf. Homily at the Mass for the Beginning of the Pontificate, May 18, 2025). The video therefore ends with Pope Leo XIV’s call to be missionaries of hope among the peoples, as the motto of World Mission Sunday calls for. The video is available in about 20 languages on the Pontifical Mission Societies’ YouTube channel. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 1/10/2025)
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