World Day of Migrants and Refugees

“Migrants, missionaries of hope” is the Message of Pope Leo XIV for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR).

The WDMR, which usually falls on the last Sunday of September, will be celebrated this year on 4 and 5 October on the occasion of the Jubilee of Migrants. 

In his Message, the Holy Father reflects on the current context “sadly marked by wars, violence, injustice and extreme weather events, which force millions of people to leave their homelands in search of refuge elsewhere”.

The search for happiness is one of the causes of human mobility, and the link between migration and hope, which is well reflected in the Jubilee 2025 motto “Pilgrims of Hope”, is often at the heart of many migration experiences. As the Pope explains in his Message, it is often migrants, refugees and displaced persons who are “privileged witnesses of hope.  Indeed, they demonstrate this daily through their resilience and trust in God, as they face adversity while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development and happiness are possible”.

Those who undertake the journey carry this faith as baggage and pass it to the communities where they arrive. Migrants and refugees thus become missionaries of hope in the countries that welcome them, as the Pope says, “forging new paths of faith where the message of Jesus Christ has not yet arrived or initiating interreligious dialogue based on everyday life and the search for common values”.

Moreover, those who leave their homeland remind the Church of the ultimate goal of the earthly pilgrimage that leads to the future homeland. The presence   of migrants and refugees is therefore one that, as stated in the Message, should be recognized and appreciated “as a true divine blessing, an opportunity to open oneself to the grace of God, who gives new energy and hope to his Church”.