The Dicastery for Evangelization announced this Saturday, October 31, that «The love of Christ sends us» will be the motto of the 101st World Mission Day, which will be celebrated on Sunday, October 24, 2027. The theme, chosen by Leo XIV and inspired by the Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (2 Cor 5:14), places the love of Jesus Christ at the center of the Church’s mission as the force that impels the baptized to proclaim the Gospel.
The announcement comes just two weeks after the celebration of the centenary of World Mission Day, instituted by Pius XI in 1926. The choice of the new motto extends the reflection developed during this jubilee year of the missionary day, in which the unity of Christians around Christ has been highlighted as the foundation of evangelization.
From the DOMUND centenary to the new missionary motto of 2027
The 2026 celebration was marked by the motto «One in Christ, united in mission», announced by the Holy See in October of last year and subsequently developed in Leo XIV’s message for World Mission Day, published on January 25.
In that document, the Pontiff emphasized that communion with Jesus Christ constitutes the foundation of all evangelizing activity and recalled that mission cannot be separated from the unity of the disciples.
The new 2027 theme continues this line of reflection, but now places the accent on the love of Christ as the driving force of missionary action.
According to the Dicastery for Evangelization in its official communiqué, the motto recalls “the very heart of the Christian mission”: the love of Christ, received and lived, becomes the impulse to proclaim the Gospel and to become neighbor to every brother and sister.
«If unity is the condition of mission, love is its substance»
The communiqué takes up one of the central statements of the 2026 papal message: «If unity is the condition of mission, love is its substance».
With this reference, the Dicastery explains that the Church’s mission is born of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ, is nourished by the personal encounter with Him, and is translated into a concrete witness of fraternity, closeness, and service.
“The love of Christ does not leave us indifferent: it impels us to go out of ourselves, to meet others, and to reach especially those who are alone, poor, or wounded,” the communiqué states.
The choice of the motto thus refers to the teaching of Saint Paul, who presents the love of Christ as the force that moves the apostle to live and act in the service of the Gospel.
The message for World Mission Day will be published at the beginning of 2027
The Dicastery for Evangelization announced that the Holy Father’s message for World Mission Day 2027 will be released during the first months of next year.
The document will serve as a reference for reflection, formation, and missionary animation activities that will be carried out in dioceses, parishes, religious communities, and ecclesial movements throughout the world.
World Mission Day each year recalls the responsibility of all the baptized in proclaiming the Gospel and promotes spiritual and material support for mission territories, especially the young Churches that still need help to sustain their pastoral and evangelizing activity.
The four Pontifical Mission Societies, at the service of evangelization
The communiqué also highlighted the work of the four Pontifical Mission Societies: the Propagation of the Faith, the Missionary Childhood, Saint Peter the Apostle, and the Missionary Union.
These institutions play an essential role in forming the missionary consciousness of the faithful and in sustaining Christian communities, especially in those territories where the Church needs support to consolidate its pastoral structures.
Through prayer, formation, and charity, the Pontifical Mission Societies promote the participation of the baptized, from children to adults, in the universal mission of the Church.
The Dicastery recalled that this work responds to what is established in the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, which recognizes the responsibility of these societies in promoting the missionary spirit among the People of God and in supporting the new particular Churches.
The next World Mission Day will be celebrated on October 24, 2027, with an invitation to renew the commitment to proclaim Jesus Christ and to sustain the evangelizing work of the Church throughout the world.