The choice to remain human in the face of indifference

One hundred years have passed since the establishment of World Mission Sunday, which, by the initiative of Pope Pius XI, has been celebrated since 1926 on the penultimate Sunday of October in churches throughout the world. A strong impetus in this direction came from the insight and collaboration of the founders of missionary institutes in Italy, who were united in recognizing the validity and universality of the missionary mandate for every baptized person and every local Church.

In this way, the initiative reinforced what Pope Benedict XV had affirmed just a few years earlier in his 1919 apostolic letter Maximum Illud, freeing the mission from the grip of colonialism.

The meaning lies entirely here: believers, in every corner of the world, gathered in Jesus, the first missionary, and united with Him, contribute to the Church’s missionary work. Only some, however, leave their own countries to reach Churches that live as minorities, face persecution or poverty, or where missionary action is particularly necessary, as well as demanding.

On the occasion of this centenary, Pope Leo XIV, in his message One in Christ, United in Mission, recalled the Pontifical Mission Societies, which arose at the end of the nineteenth century precisely so that every Christian might participate in the Church’s work of evangelization, overcoming the fragmentation of efforts and divisions into factions.

Jesus makes this clear: it is through the witness of a reconciled, fraternal, and supportive community that the proclamation of the Gospel finds its full communicative power. The path, then, can only be one of encounter with the other—always different and always the same as me—of mutual recognition, of fraternity without conditions.

“The greatness of the human person is revealed when we recognize the other as a gift and not as a given,” Pope Leo recalls in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. In a world marked by conflicts, migration, and extremely rapid technological transformations, this invitation is prophetic.

Global data speak clearly: more than 120 million people today live in conditions of forced migration; more than one-third of young people in the West say they feel isolated; and artificial intelligence risks increasing inequalities and polarization. Then there is the challenge facing our European cities, where coexistence and fear are intertwined, and where we are called to safeguard what is human precisely when everything seems to push us toward indifference.

Within this reality, mission asks us not to lose sight of our center: the face of Christ and the face of the other. The real face—fragile, often surprising—that challenges us beyond geographical and existential boundaries. Remaining human today means choosing closeness in a time that pushes us toward distance. We are made to look people in the eyes, recognize their dignity, and allow ourselves to be wounded and transformed by their stories.

“One in Christ, United in Mission” is not merely a slogan, but a direction. Mission, then, can become the place where humanity is brought back together, where boundaries are transformed into thresholds, and where it becomes possible to see the other clearly. And universal fraternity becomes the most credible response to the challenges of our time.

Perhaps this is the deepest meaning of this missionary month of October: to return to the heart of God and of humanity, allowing ourselves to be challenged by the faces—near and far—that we encounter, as a way of inhabiting the world responsibly. Because mission is what we are, not merely what we do. It is the way we choose to remain human, together, in the time that has been given to us.

FESMI (Federation of the Italian Missionary Press)