EDITORIAL

THE WORLD STILL NEEDS THESE COURAGEOUS WITNESSES OF CHRIST

“Despite adversity and human limitations, they continue to give themselves joyfully, because they know that Christ himself and his Gospel are the greatest treasures we can offer.” (Pope Leo XIV)

BY Fr Robert Kinena Ndungu MCCJ | Editor

ON 18 OCTOBER 2026, we celebrate the 100th World Mission Day, with the theme “One in Christ, United in Mission.” The Pope prefaced his message by emphasizing the importance of “Joy and zeal in the Holy Spirit,” unity, and everyone’s willingness to participate in Mission with generosity and trust. Paraphrasing John 17:21 and the teachings of his predecessors, St Paul VI, St John Paul II, and Francis, the Pope affirmed the unity in Christ of missionary disciples, “Therefore, the more united we are in Christ, the better able we will be to carry out together the mission that he entrusts to us.” This unity was manifested during the joint ecumenical celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025. The Pope further maintained that “The unity of disciples is not an end in itself; it is directed towards mission. Jesus states this clearly: It is through the witness of a reconciled, fraternal and united community that the proclamation of the Gospel acquires its full communicative power.”

The Pope reminds us of the importance of working together and coordinating our missionary tasks, arguing for a “spirituality of communion and missionary cooperation”, as espoused in Ephesians 4:5-6. This will help achieve a “universal vision of the Church’s evangelizing mission” and guard against factions accounted in 1 Cor 1:10-12. He cautions that such unity is not to be understood as “uniformity but rather as the convergence of different charisms for the same purpose, namely to make Christ’s love visible and to invite everyone to encounter him.” He testifies with gratitude that he experienced this unity and support from the Pontifical Missionary Societies (PMS) during his ministry in Peru, calling on all to support them as “a living sign of unity and ecclesial missionary communion.” 

The Pope makes it abundantly clear that we are called to love. He calls this “Mission to love – Proclaiming, living and sharing God’s faithful love.” Paraphrasing Jesus’s words to his disciples before his passion in John 17:26, the Pope avers, “The mission of the disciples and the Church as a whole is to continue the mission of Christ in the Holy Spirit: a mission born of love, lived in love, and leading to love.”

 With great admiration for missionaries, the Pope exclaims: “I would like to express my special gratitude to today’s Ad Gentes missionaries. Like St Francis Xavier, they have left their homeland, their families and all sense of security in order to proclaim the Gospel and bring Christ and his love to places that are often challenging, poor, conflict-ridden or culturally distant. Despite adversity and human limitations, they continue to give themselves joyfully, because they know that Christ himself, and his Gospel, are the greatest treasures we can offer. Through their perseverance, they demonstrate that God’s love transcends all barriers.” 

He appeals for the promotion of missionary vocations and invites all to continue praying for more vocations for the Ad Gentes missionaries. He further makes “a special appeal to the whole Church to join them in the mission of evangelization through the witness of our lives in Christ, through prayer and through our contributions to the missions.” The mission of evangelization is always a work of love. This is evident in the witnesses of the many missionaries who have given their lives to serve the poor and needy in many parts of the world. A selection of their stories can be found in this, as well as in previous issues of Worldwide. 

By reading the testimonies in this issue and refreshing your memories on the previous ones, I hope that you will familiarise yourself with these ‘great’ men and women, and pursuant to the Pope’s appeal, you will consistently support them and their missions by prayers and also financially, not just on World Mission Day, but as long as you can. The Pope expresses it poignantly: “Every gift, no matter how small, becomes a meaningful act of missionary communion. I renew my heartfelt gratitude for everything you will do to help me help missionaries throughout the world.” 

(Citations from LEO PP. XIV The Vatican, 25 January 2026, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Vatican.va)