“Today we celebrate World Mission Day, which has the theme Here I am, send me. Weavers of fraternity,” Pope Francis said today after praying the Angelus with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. “It is beautiful, this word ‘weavers’: every Christian is called to be a weaver of fraternity. Missionaries and missionaries –  priests, consecrated men and women, and laypeople –, who sow the Gospel in the great field of the world, are especially so. Let us pray for them and give them our practical support.

“In this context, I would like to thank God for the long-awaited liberation of Father Pier Luigi Maccalli… – we greet him with this applause! – who was kidnapped two years ago in Niger. We also rejoice because three other hostages were released with him. We continue to pray for the missionaries and catechists and also for those who are persecuted or kidnapped in various parts of the world.”

Read Holy Father’s full message for World Mission Day here.

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