When is World Mission Sunday? This year, it falls on October 18, 2026, the second-to-last Sunday of October, as it has every year since Pope Pius XI established it in 1926. It is also the 100th celebration of Mission Sunday, which makes this year’s collection a particularly meaningful one for every parish.
Pope Leo XIV has been direct about what he hopes for. In his 2025 video message, he said: “I urge every Catholic parish in the world to take part in World Mission Sunday.” Here is a practical guide to doing just that.
The heart of World Mission Sunday is a collection taken up in every parish, entrusted to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and distributed in the Holy Father’s name to young and poor Churches in mission territories. Preparing for it well means helping parishioners understand where their gift goes before the basket comes around.
October 18 is also the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Its readings are Isaiah 45:1, 4-6, Psalm 96, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b and Matthew 22:15-21. According to TPMS’s 2026 Homily Helps, the Mass “For the Evangelization of Peoples” may be used in place of the Sunday prayers. Check with your pastor or diocesan mission office.
In the weeks before, many parishes add bulletin and pulpit announcements about the centenary, put up posters in the narthex, and place envelopes in the pews the Sunday before.
TPMS has prepared a full set of free, printable materials on the World Mission Sunday 2026 page:
Collection envelope: the WMS 2026 envelope, ready to print for the pews.
The Pope’s message: Pope Leo’s Message for WMS 2026, “One in Christ, united in mission,” as a printable PDF.
Prayer card: the World Mission Sunday Prayer Card to hand out after Mass.
Poster: the WMS 2026 Fulton Sheen poster for your parish entrance or bulletin board.
Homily Helps: the 2026 Homily Helps, with reflections on the October readings, Prayers of the Faithful, music suggestions and bulletin announcements.
World Mission Rosary: the printable brochure and poster, for a parish rosary before or after Mass.
This year’s theme, “One in Christ, united in mission,” comes from Pope Leo XIV’s message for World Mission Day 2026. The Sunday readings offer natural connections to it. TPMS’s Homily Helps note how Paul’s Gospel reached the Thessalonians “not in word alone” but in power, and how Jesus’ answer about Caesar’s coin points to the baptized, who bear the image of God and belong to him.
The Homily Helps also propose intentions for the Prayers of the Faithful, including:
“For the Church throughout the world, that she may courageously proclaim the Gospel…”
“For those who have never heard the name of Jesus, that they may encounter the saving truth and love of the Gospel…”
“For mission territories, especially in those places where the Church barely exists…”
A brief word before the collection, explaining that the offering goes to the Pope’s own fund for the missions, helps parishioners see their gift as part of one Church at prayer.
Children have their own Pontifical Mission Society. The Missionary Childhood Association began in France on May 19, 1843, when Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson, after consulting Pauline Jaricot, invited French children to help their peers in mission territories through prayer and small sacrifices. Its motto is still “Children Helping Children.”
On World Mission Sunday, parishes and schools can involve children by:
Teaching the five colors of the World Mission Rosary with the MCA lesson plan.
Giving children an MCA Mite Box to fill with small offerings during the month.
Inviting them to pray a decade of the World Mission Rosary together with their families.
Not everyone will be in the pew on October 18. Parishioners who miss the collection, or who want to give again, can give to World Mission Sunday online. Every gift reaches the same fund and serves the same young Churches.
Pope Leo XIV closed his 2025 message with a simple word of gratitude: “Thank you for everything you will do to help me help missionaries throughout the world.”
One Sunday, one collection, one Church. This October 18, let your parish be part of the hundredth.
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