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On Monday, 21 April at 7:35 a.m., Pope Francis passed away at the age of eighty-eight, but on 25 January 2025, he had already published his message for World Mission Day of the Jubilee Year 2025, whose theme is “Missionaries of Hope Among all Peoples”. Pope Francis calls on every Christian and the Church to become living witnesses of hope in the image of Christ, renewing our missionary commitments in a world marked by suffering, loneliness, and crises.

This is a truly relevant but also particularly challenging task. It raises a question: How can we become living witnesses of hope in the image of Christ?

Pope Francis himself gives us the answer. We can become living witnesses of hope in three ways:

1. Always keep our eyes fixed on Christ. Christ is the source of hope. Jesus is the perfect model of a missionary: he brought hope through his life, his suffering, and his resurrection.
2. To respond with strength and conviction to the call of people waiting for a better world, wherever we are. The Pope reminds us that all baptized persons are called to live with and for others. The Gospel can rehumanise a wounded world (isolation, indifference, selfishness) without forgetting that Christian salvation is transcendent, not just material. The Church continues its mission of hope among peoples, despite its limitations.
3. To renew the mission through Easter spirituality (the death and resurrection of Christ). Easter spirituality gives strength and meaning to those who want to be living witnesses of hope. Prayer is the first mission because it nourishes hope and concerns everyone.

To conclude his message, the Pope invites us to turn to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ our hope.

On 13 October 2025, Pope Leo XIV, in a video message for World Mission Day on 19 October, shares his experience in Peru and exhorts parishes around the world to pray and generously support the proclamation of the Gospel.

As a missionary priest and bishop himself, he invites us to be ‘missionaries of hope among the peoples.’ His call for help is unequivocal: “Help me to help missionaries around the world.”

By: Salvador Muñoz Ledo, M.Afr.