One hundred years after the Catholic Church established World Mission Sunday, Pope Leo the Fourteenth is calling on Christians worldwide to strengthen their unity in Christ and renew commitment to spreading of Gospel.
With the theme, “One in Christ, United in Mission,” this year’s centenary celebration is also being observed in Nigeria, where we are being urged to prioritise mission, describing it as the essence of the Christian faith.
Established in 1926 by Pope Pius the Eleventh, World Mission Sunday marks a century of encouraging prayer, support for missionaries and commitment to evangelisation across the Catholic Church.
In his message for the 2026 celebration, Pope Leo the Fourteenth emphasises that true missionary work begins with unity in Christ, urging Christians to overcome divisions, mistrust and polarisation in order to work together in spreading God’s love and the message of salvation.
In Nigeria, the centenary was marked at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria in Abuja, where Clerics challenged the faithful to place mission at the heart of their Christian lives.
Their message reinforces the call for Christians to look beyond church attendance and embrace their responsibility to share the Gospel through their words, actions and service to others.
As World Mission Sunday celebrates a century of missionary commitment, the message from the Vatican and Nigeria is that the mission of the Church must remain a collective responsibility, rooted in unity, strengthened by faith and demonstrated through service.
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Editor: Nkoli Omhoudu
