WORLD MISSION SUNDAY 2026 THEME ANNOUNCED

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization has just announced publicly the theme for next year’s World Mission Sunday, to be celebrated on October 18, 2026 — “One in Christ, United in Mission.”

This theme takes on special significance as we mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of World Mission Sunday, instituted by Pope Pius XI at the request of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1926. The theme echoes Pope Leo XIV’s motto, In Illo uno unum (“In Him, One”), reminding us that our communion in Christ is the wellspring of our shared missionary call and that the aim of our Christian mission is to bring people into communion with Christ and us.

In his video message for this year’s World Mission Sunday, Pope Leo XIV reflected on his own experience as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru, saying: “I have seen with my own eyes how the faith, prayer, and generosity shown on this day can transform entire communities.”

Those words are a great encouragement to us all. As we have seen over the past century, the prayers and generosity of the Church universal on World Mission Sunday has transformative power, and not just for those in the missions, but for the Church and for the world for which the Church is leaven.

As we prepare for this centennial celebration, we look forward to doing so united with you in prayer, formation, and missionary zeal, as we seek, as The Pontifical Mission Societies, to awaken in every baptized person the joy of being “one in Christ, united in mission."