October of 2019 will be “Extraordinary Missionary Month” in the Church. This is why in his monthly prayer video, Pope Francis asked Christians to pray for “a new missionary 'spring' for all those baptized.”
The pope said “a new impulse to the Church’s missionary activity is needed to face the challenge of proclaiming Jesus and his death and resurrection”. Pope Francis also recalled that “the heart of the Church's mission is prayer.”
According to the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, “37 percent of the Universal Church is in mission territory, which is practically one-third of the Catholic Church.” In fact, they point out zones where “the Church is still in infancy and needs special support. There are 1,109 territories in Africa, Asia, the islands of Oceania and America.”