Pope Leo XIV delivered an address to the Pontifical Mission Societies on Thursday thanking its members for living the Church’s call to evangelize to all nations with a spirit of communion and universality in union with the pope.
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Approximately 120 national directors connected to the Vatican’s four missionary bodies — the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of the Holy Childhood, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, and the Missionary Union — and 20 members of the Dicastery for Evangelization met with the Holy Father on the first day of their general assembly taking place in Rome from May 22–28.
“As societies committed to sharing in the missionary mandate of the pope and the college of bishops, you are called to cultivate and further promote within your members the vision of the Church as the communion of believers, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to enter into the perfect communion and harmony of the blessed Trinity,” the pontiff said to those present at the morning meeting.
“This dimension of our Christian life and mission is close to my heart and is reflected in the words of St. Augustine that I chose for my episcopal service and now for my papal ministry: ‘In Illo uno unum’ — Christ is our savior and in him we are one, a family of God, beyond the rich variety of our languages, cultures, and experiences,” he added.
Describing apsotolic zeal as “more urgent in our own day,” Pope Leo said the Gospel message of love, reconciliation, and grace through Jesus Christ is needed in a world “wounded” by war and injustice.
“In this sense, the Church herself, in 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,” he said, echoing words from his homily given during his May 18 inauguration Mass.
Asking his listeners to be inspired and renewed in their vocation to “be a leaven of missionary zeal within the people of God,” the Holy Father reiterated the message of his predecessor to be “missionaries of hope among all peoples,” especially in light of the 2025 Jubilee Year.
“In the words of Pope Francis, ‘The Lord has overcome the world and its constant conflict “by making peace through the blood of his cross,”’” Pope Leo said, citing Evangelii Gaudium. “Hence we see the importance of fostering a spirit of missionary discipleship in all the baptized and a sense of the urgency of bringing Christ to all people.
According to Monsignor Roger Landry, head of the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, who was present at the meeting, the Holy Father warmly encouraged national directors to continue to promote World Mission Sunday, celebrated on the second-to-last Sunday of October, and ensure their outreach programs are driven by a “universality that flows from a sense of communion.”
“He doesn’t want us to exclude anybody,” Landry told CNA on Thursday. “Like Pope Francis before him, he was getting us to focus on the peripheries — those who are not yet close to us and those who are not united with us.”
After speaking about the beauty of having representatives from over 120 countries come together “as equals” before the Holy Father at the meeting, Landry said each person present received rosary beads from Pope Leo that were blessed by Pope Francis before he died.
“There was a sense of continuity as he was giving us Pope Francis’ rosary beads,” he said.
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