01/10/2025

PRESS RELEASE – DICASTERY FOR EVANGELIZATION

FROM 4 TO 5 OCTOBER, JUBILEES OF THE MISSIONS AND OF MIGRANTS

(Vatican City, 1 October 2025) – On Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 October, the Jubilee of Missions and the Jubilee of Migrants will be held contemporaneously in Rome, organized in collaboration with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and the new particular Churches.

Jubilee of Missions

The Jubilee event that will involve pilgrims from around 100 countries is dedicated in particular to all lay and religious missionaries, mission pastoral workers, fidei dodum and various organizations linked to the missionary world. The most represented countries, besides Italy, are the United States, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, France, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, India, and Canada. There will also be delegations from Zambia, Lesotho, China, Costa Rica, Madagascar and the Mauritius Islands.

The Jubilee will begin on Saturday morning, 4 October, with the Jubilee Audience, to be held at 10.00 by the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, in Saint Peter’s Square, to which all the pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee are invited. Then, in the afternoon, between 14.00 and 17.00, the participants will be able to make their pilgrimage to the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica. From 17.00 to 18.45, the International Missionary Meeting will be held, entitled “The Missio ad gentes today: towards new horizons”, at the Pontifical Urbaniana University (Via Urbano VIII, 16), organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for first evangelization and the new particular Churches, and by the Pontifical Mission Societies. After the meeting, from 19.30 to 20.30, the national groups are invited to celebrate the vigil Mass for the missions in various churches in the areas neighbouring the Vatican: Santa Maria delle Fornaci (English); San Lorenzo in Piscibus (French), the Great Chapel of the Urban College (Spanish); and the Chapel of the International Centre for Missionary Animation (Portuguese/German/Chinese). The Mass will be celebrated in Italian at the “Dono di Maria” Chapel House in Via del Sant’Uffizio, 9/a (at 19.30) and in the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina (at 19.00).

At 21.00 there will be a solemn international missionary Rosary in Saint Peter’s Square, which everyone is invited to attend.

On Sunday 5 October, at 10.30, the pilgrims will participate in Holy Mass in Saint Peter’s Square presided over by Pope Leo XIV. In the afternoon, from 15.00 to 19.00, in the gardens of Castel Sant’Angelo, the “Feast of Peoples” will be held: an artistic event, open to all, entitled “Migrants and Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples”. The event will be attended by His Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for first evangelization and the new particular Churches, and other Superiors of the same curial institution.

Jubilee of Migrants

This special Jubilee event will involve ten thousand pilgrims from over 95 countries, and will be dedicated to all migrant persons, who will come from Italy, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, the Philippines, Germany, Portugal, India, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Albania, Romania, Madagascar, Eritrea, Togo, Cabo Verde, and the Mauritius Islands.

The Jubilee will begin, also in this case, on the morning of Saturday 4 October at 10.00, with the Jubilee Audience, presided over by Pope Leo XIV in Saint Peter’s Square, and will continue in the afternoon, from 14.00 to 17.00, with the pilgrimage to the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

On Sunday 5 October, at 10.30, the pilgrims will participate in the Holy Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV in Saint Peter’s Square, and the Jubilee will conclude in the afternoon with the “Feast of Peoples” on the theme “Migrants and Missionaries of hope among peoples”, organized by a panel made up of various Catholic entities that work with and for migrants, refugees and the missionary world, and promoted by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for first evangelization and the new particular Churches.

It will be an afternoon of music, testimonies and shows with migrants, missionaries and artists from all over the world, including, for example, the Indian Latin community of Rome, the young group of the Filipino community, the Sorirang from Korea, the International Migrants School of Rome, and the PerùFolk cultural association, for a celebration uniting the reality of migration and the missionary world, an expression of a Church that welcomes and embraces. Entry to the event, which will be held from 15.00 to 19.00 in the gardens of Castel Sant’Angelo, is free of charge and open to everyone. It will be possible to attend a preview of the Festival from 14.30. The event will be hosted by presenters of various nationalities: Italian, Afghan and Indian. It will be attended by His Eminence Cardinal Fabio Baggio C.S., undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and the superiors of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for first evangelization and the new particular Churches.

PRESS OFFICE – JUBILEE 2025
Dicastery for Evangelization
Section for Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelization in the World press@iubilaeum2025.va