A World of Mission - February 2025 Highlights

Vatican. Pope Francis has released his 2025 Message for World Mission Day, choosing the theme “Missionaries of Hope Among all Peoples”.

United States. In a Letter to the Bishops of the United States of America, Pope Francis names deportations as a “major crisis” and urges the faithful “not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”

Africa. The freeze on USAID funds placed thousands of lives at risk in South Sudan, where healthcare workers, patients, and local authorities are calling to restore the funding.

Asia. The government of the Philippines declared a “food emergency” as elections draw near.

Latin America. The Colombia Bishops’ Conference expressed urgent concern for “migrants, displaced persons, returnees, [and] victims of the increasing violence in the country's rural areas."

Latin America. Sister Justina Santander, SSPS, has been appointed as national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Paraguay.