Pope Francis will celebrate Mass for Extraordinary Missionary Month on Sunday at 10 am, in St. Peter's Basilica.
Traditionally, the Church dedicates the second to last Sunday in October to missionaries. However, this year marks the 100 anniversary of Benedict XV's apostolic letter, Maximum Illud. This document is considered fundamental because it marks the modern missionary style.
This is why the pope has promoted this Extraordinary Missionary Month. There are two objectives: to make Christians more aware of the state of evangelizing, and to encourage them to bear witness more courageously.
There are currently more than 350,000 lay missionaries in the world. However, there are 142,000 mission stations without a resident priest. According to the Fides Agency, 40 of these missionaries were killed in 2018, the majority of them in Africa.
Javier Romero Bedate
Translated: Rachel Dobrzynski
