Pope Leo: World Mission Sunday has ‘borne fruit in my own life’

World Mission Sunday is celebrated Oct. 18 this year.

The future Pope Leo XIV visits with Augustinian sisters in Peru in this undated photo. As an Augustinian priest, then-Father Robert F. Prevost spent many years as a missionary in Peru and also served as bishop of that country's Diocese of Chiclayo. (OSV News photo (Courtesy photo of Sister Carmen Toledano)

The aim of World Mission Sunday, celebrated this year on Oct. 18 and established 100 years ago by Pope Pius XI, has “borne fruit in my own life,” said Pope Leo XIV.

The pope reflected on the annual observance in a video message posted by Vatican News to its YouTube channel Oct. 7. A transcript of the message was also published on the Vatican’s website.

In January, Pope Leo XIV announced he had chosen the theme “One in Christ, united in mission” for this year's celebration, with his message for the day encouraging “the whole Church to continue its missionary journey with joy and zeal in the Holy Spirit.” (See Pope Leo’s full message on pages 10-11).

In his video message, Pope Leo said, “Looking back on my youth, I can see how the prayers offered to the Lord of the harvest mysteriously helped prepare my heart to hear Jesus’ call to follow him as an Augustinian missionary.”

The future pope served for years in Peru, a country particularly blessed by missionary priests, said Father Anthony D. Andreassi, a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Brooklyn, and a researcher for the Pontifical Mission Societies USA.

In an Oct. 5 interview with OSV News, Father Andreassi explained how the 20th century saw an uptick in the number of North American priests, both diocesan and religious, assigned to Latin America, where the Church already had a 500-year presence, but “never enough of a native clergy.”

The Augustinian Order “started sending people into Peru in the 1960s,” said Father Andreassi. “And then, all of a sudden, you see Robert Prevost” — who would eventually become Pope Leo XIV — “there in the 1980s.”

In his video message, Pope Leo said “the prayers and contributions of the faithful encouraged and sustained my missionary work in Peru, as well as that of countless others throughout the world.”

“For this reason, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported World Mission Sunday over the years,” he added.

The pope said this year’s theme “invites us to reflect on the fundamental task of nurturing the Church’s unity in following Christ, particularly in our commitment and responsibility to spread the Gospel message of salvation to all people.”

Baptism makes each of the faithful “a member of the Body of Christ” with “a unique role in contributing to Jesus' saving work.”

“Our Lord calls us to cooperate as one family, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to bring everyone everywhere into a communion of faith in Christ,” said Pope Leo.

He reaffirmed his appeal from his previously released message for the day, urging all to “”commit to contributing to the great mission of evangelization — which is always a work of love — according to our own vocation and the gifts we have received.”

Prayers and “practical support” will be “a great help in bringing the Gospel of God's love to everyone, especially the poorest and those most in need,” said the pope, quoting from his earlier message.

He thanked those who “carry on the legacy of World Mission Sunday” and “support generously the evangelizing mission of the Church throughout the world.”