Pope Leo XIV on Monday praised the missionary legacy of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the famed American evangelist who will be beatified Sept. 24 in St. Louis, calling him “a light of faith, hope, and love.”
The pope made his remarks June 1 during an audience with participants in the general assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies, recalling Sheen’s long service as national director of the societies in the United States.
The pope noted that this year marks the 100th anniversary of Pope Pius XI’s establishment of the penultimate Sunday of October as World Mission Sunday, a day devoted to “prayer, reflection, and contributing to the Church’s mission of evangelization.”
Leo expressed his gratitude to those who promote the annual observance, which supports the Church’s missionary work throughout the world.
“For 100 years, this day has been set apart for prayer, reflection, and contributing to the Church’s mission of evangelization, especially in areas where the proclamation of the Gospel is only just beginning and where the Church is still young,” the pope said.
He added that “every Catholic community is invited to pray and offer spiritual and material sacrifices for the missionary efforts in areas of first evangelization and for the support of young Churches.”
World Mission Sunday also reminds older and more established Churches “how important it is that they too join in the missionary spirit of the whole Church,” he said.
The pope said the funds raised through World Mission Sunday make it possible for the Pontifical Society of the Propagation of the Faith to assist more than 1,130 ecclesiastical jurisdictions that depend on the Dicastery for Evangelization’s section for first evangelization and new particular Churches.
Those funds, he said, help establish Church infrastructure, support missionary initiatives, and contribute to the administration of five colleges in Rome for the ongoing formation of priests and consecrated men and women who later return to serve their local Churches.
Leo also highlighted the 110th anniversary of the Pontifical Missionary Union, founded by Blessed Paolo Manna, later declared pontifical by Pope Pius XII and described by St. Paul VI as the “soul” of the other Pontifical Mission Societies.
“I encourage all to participate in its mission of fostering among all the baptized an ever more fervent missionary spirituality and a deeper commitment to the Church’s universal mission of evangelization in this new missionary age,” he said.
The pope then turned again to Sheen, noting that his beatification is scheduled for Sept. 24 in St. Louis.
“It is also providential that this year, on 24 September, in St. Louis, Missouri, a renowned national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States of America, the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, will be beatified,” Leo said.
“Archbishop Sheen was a light of faith, hope, and love that shone through the radio and television media for decades,” the pope continued. “I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up. His broadcasts touched millions with the hope of the Gospel and his initiatives and efforts resulted in enormous spiritual and material aid to the Churches in areas of first evangelization.”
“May our new blessed be an example for all of the national and diocesan directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies throughout the world,” he added.
Leo also underscored the importance of the Pontifical Mission Societies in a world “increasingly marked by division, war, and conflict among nations and peoples.”
He said the Pontifical Mission Society of the Holy Childhood carries out “a particularly precious mission” by bringing faith and Christian charity to children around the world, especially in places afflicted by hatred and violence. He also praised the Pontifical Mission Society of St. Peter the Apostle for sustaining the formation of Indigenous clergy and consecrated religious in mission territories.
The theme for this year’s World Mission Sunday, “One in Christ, United in Mission,” highlights the unity of believers and the 100th anniversary of the global celebration, the pope said.
The theme “invites all of the members of the Church to a deeper communion in Christ and to a fuller unity in his divine mission of love,” he said.
“I therefore encourage you to keep this teaching in mind, to live an authentic spirituality of missionary unity and communion centered on Christ, and to promote it through your activities among the faithful,” Leo told the assembly.
Citing the Second Vatican Council’s decree Ad Gentes, the pope recalled that the “Church on earth is by her very nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, it has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
He urged participants to recognize “the urgency of embracing an ongoing missionary conversion” and to seek together ways of “being a missionary Church for the healing of our world, so fraught with tensions, conflicts, and wars.”
“In all that we do for the work of evangelization, may we always place Jesus Christ at the center,” Leo said, invoking the words of St. John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.