The aim of World Mission Sunday (Oct. 18), established 100 years ago by Pope Pius XI, has “borne fruit in my own life,” said Pope Leo XIV.

The pope reflected on the annual observance in a video message posted by Vatican News to its YouTube channel Oct. 7. A transcript of the message was also published on the Vatican’s website.

In January, Pope Leo XIV announced he had chosen the theme “One in Christ, united in mission” for this year’s celebration, with his message for the day encouraging “the whole Church to continue its missionary journey with joy and zeal in the Holy Spirit.”

Established by Pope Pius XI in 1926 and universally observed by 1927, World Mission Sunday is a dedicated day of “prayer and missionary promotion throughout the Catholic world,” according to its founding decree.

Held on the next-to-last Sunday of October, the observance also includes a collection that serves as the primary financial support for the Pontifical Mission Societies, a worldwide network operating at the service of the pope and consisting of four organizations, three of which were designated as pontifical by Pope Pius XI in 1922.

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith supports the evangelization efforts of the local church; the Missionary Childhood Association educates children about their part in the church’s missionary outreach; and the Society of St. Peter the Apostle trains the next generation of missionary clergy and consecrated religious.

The Pontifical Missionary Union, designated as pontifical in 1956 by Pope Pius XII, focuses on forming clergy, religious and pastoral leaders more deeply in their role as evangelizers.

In his video message, Pope Leo said, “Looking back on my youth, I can see how the prayers offered to the Lord of the harvest mysteriously helped prepare my heart to hear Jesus’ call to follow him as an Augustinian missionary.”

The future pope served for years in Peru, a country particularly blessed by missionary priests, said Father Anthony D. Andreassi, a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Brooklyn, New York, and a researcher for the Pontifical Mission Societies USA.

In an Oct. 5 interview with OSV News, Father Andreassi explained how the 20th century saw an uptick in the number of North American priests, both diocesan and religious, assigned to Latin America, where the Church already had a 500-year presence, but “never enough of a native clergy.”

The Augustinian Order “started sending people into Peru in the 1960s,” said Father Andreassi. “And then, all of a sudden, you see Robert Prevost” — who would eventually become Pope Leo XIV — “there in the 1980s.”

In his video message, Pope Leo said “the prayers and contributions of the faithful encouraged and sustained my missionary work in Peru, as well as that of countless others throughout the world.”

“For this reason, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported World Mission Sunday over the years,” he added.

The pope said this year’s theme “invites us to reflect on the fundamental task of nurturing the Church’s unity in following Christ, particularly in our commitment and responsibility to spread the Gospel message of salvation to all people.”

Baptism makes each of the faithful “a member of the Body of Christ” with “a unique role in contributing to Jesus’ saving work.”

“Our Lord calls us to cooperate as one family, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to bring everyone everywhere into a communion of faith in Christ,” said Pope Leo.

He reaffirmed his appeal from his previously released message for the day, urging all to “commit to contributing to the great mission of evangelization — which is always a work of love — according to our own vocation and the gifts we have received.”

Prayers and “practical support” will be “a great help in bringing the Gospel of God’s love to everyone, especially the poorest and those most in need,” said the pope, quoting from his earlier message.

He thanked those who “carry on the legacy of World Mission Sunday” and “support generously the evangelizing mission of the Church throughout the world.”

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News.

A longtime Catholic youth ministry is welcoming a new leader whose work draws on Church history while developing new evangelization outreaches.

FOCUS, or Fellowship of Catholic University Students, announced Oct. 7 that Jonathan Reyes has been selected to succeed founder Curtis A. Martin, who announced his retirement in December 2025.

The organization, founded in 1998, now has more than 1,000 missionaries serving on over 200 college campuses and in close to 40 parishes throughout the U.S. Earlier this year, FOCUS’ annual SEEK conference drew some 26,000 participants to its three locations in Denver, Columbus, Ohio, and Fort Worth, Texas.

Reyes — who will take over from interim CEO Tim Toman effective Nov. 16 — comes to the role after serving most recently as the Knights of Columbus’ senior vice president of communications.

Prior to his tenure with the Knights, Reyes was the executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ justice, peace and development department, and later the USCCB’s assistant general secretary for integral human development.

Having been FOCUS’ vice president of ministry and formation from 2004-2005 — a position he accepted at Martin’s request — Reyes said his prior experience with the organization he will now lead was transformative.

“That invitation (from Martin) changed my life in ways I never could have imagined,” he said. “Over the years, I have watched God use this apostolate to transform thousands of lives on college campuses and in parishes.”

Reyes described “that fruit” as “a sign of God’s blessing and a testimony to the faithful leaders and missionaries who have given themselves completely to the Great Commission,” a reference to Christ’s command to proclaim the Gospel to all.

Along with his time at FOCUS, the USCCB and the Knights of Columbus, Reyes co-founded and led the Augustine Institute, a Catholic formation initiative, and Christ in the City, a youth-oriented formation and volunteer program.

Reyes also served as president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver and as vice president for academic affairs at Christendom College, where he taught history.

In its announcement, FOCUS described Reyes’ work as “grounded in deep study of the Church’s history.”

Reyes holds a doctorate in European history from the University of Notre Dame, with his research focusing on the work of British Catholic historian Christopher Dawson, who emphasized the relationship between religion and culture.

FOCUS said that Reyes’ study of Dawson “continues to inform his conviction that evangelization is the foundation for transforming communities and culture.”

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he welcomed Reyes’ appointment “with great joy,” according to a statement shared by FOCUS.

“The friendship Jonathan shares with Curtis Martin gives this transition a special continuity,” said Archbishop Coakley.

Martin said that he and Reyes have known each other “for more than 25 years,” and pointed to his friend’s “extensive leadership experience working with the Church and a deep desire to help others encounter Jesus Christ.”

Archbishop Coakley said he and his fellow bishops “rely deeply upon lay movements such as FOCUS to help bring the Great Commission to fruition in every generation.”

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News.

“When you start talking about vocation, when you start talking about what it means to practice a ministry of accompaniment with those around us, when you start going deeper into questions of existence and what this is all for, I find that this generation of students are wide open to those conversations,” Vischer said. “You have to meet them where they’re at, and that can sometimes be a bit of a dance. But there’s so many resources, principles and concepts that are just speaking so powerfully to today’s age.”  

Vischer said his job is to help bring to the surface Catholic identity and “the dimensions of that Catholic identity in ways that connect with today’s needs, which are different than 10 years ago, different than 25 years ago,” he said.  

For a “Practicing Catholic” episode set to air at 9 p.m. Oct. 9 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, Vischer talks with co-hosts Leah Heselton and Father Tom Margevicius about navigating the day-to-day challenges of campus life at the University of St. Thomas 

To hear more from Vischer, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which also repeats at 1 p.m. Oct. 10 and 2 p.m. Oct. 11. 

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes Father Jake Anderson and Brother Brennan about campus ministry at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. 

Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters. 

Among the subjects being held up for mockery in the grating black comedy “Digger” (Warner Bros.) is religion. While the film’s scorn might be interpreted as applying only to a hypocritical version of evangelicalism, its treatment of Christianity is so flippant that all viewers of faith will likely be affronted.

A convoluted send-up of corporate and political America, the movie features Tom Cruise in a dual role. He plays both Digger Rockwell, the ignorant and heedless head of a global oil company, and Curtis Markson, an actor portraying Rockwell in a fact-based satirical play.

As depicted on stage, the carelessness of Rockwell’s conglomerate — persisted in despite the warnings of its own environmental safety officer, Nirav Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) — leads to an ecological disaster. This catastrophe eventually becomes so vast in its implications that the leader of the United States, President Compson (John Goodman), becomes involved.

Like his pal, and partner in corruption, Digger, the chief executive is a pasty-faced, maniacal moron whose recent diagnosis with terminal rectal cancer is played for laughs. Until overwhelmed — and deranged — by his own mortality, the president keeps a foolishly pompous clergyman, Rev. Nathaniel Moore (Stephen Wright), on hand to fawn over him.

Director and co-writer Alejandro Inárritu seems to want to have it both ways. Thus the script, on which he collaborated with Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone and Sabina Berman, acknowledges that the cast of theater characters on screen is made up of caricatures.

Yet, by the time the final credits roll, it’s made clear that the reenactment of the history-alerting incident in which this ensemble is caught up is supposed to carry some real-world moral about power, greed and indifference to the fate of the environment. Beyond shaking their heads at the spectacle, however, it’s anybody’s guess how moviegoers are meant to respond.

The film contains a negative portrayal of religion, including a derisive scene of prayer and a fake miracle, a scene of urination, about a dozen uses of profanity, numerous milder oaths, pervasive rough language as well as frequent crude and crass talk. The OSV News classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

In interviews at the start of the new Supreme Court term, Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern about what he called “a concerted effort to intimidate the court.”

In rare interviews that coincided with the beginning of the Supreme Court’s 2026-2027 term, and the release of his first book, “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, the Court and Our Country,” Alito pushed back on criticism of the court from both the Biden and Trump administrations and reiterated his belief in its function as a pillar of a constitutional system.

“I think it’s damaging. I think it can be quite damaging. There’s been a great change in what presidents have said about the court when they are unhappy about our decisions,” he told CBS in an interview that aired over two days, Oct. 4 and 5, regarding some of the rhetoric from elected officials about the court. “But the criticism of the court — I want to be even-handed on this. The criticism of the court … by President Biden and his administration was very harsh. And President Trump has been very harsh.”

More broadly, Alito told Fox in an interview that aired Oct. 4, “There has been a concerted effort to intimidate the court — and justices on the court — to try to influence us to decide cases differently from the way in which we have been deciding them and I am concerned about the future of the court.”

“I think it’s an important institution and it has not always done the right thing, but I think on the whole it has been fundamental in protecting our constitutional structure and the rights that all Americans enjoy,” he said.

During its 2025-2026 term, the high court issued major rulings striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s sweeping tariff policy, but also permitting the Trump administration to reimplement a policy of turning away asylum-seekers along the U.S.-Mexico border before they enter the country, known as “metering,” and to end a temporary designation that shielded eligible Haitian and Syrian immigrants living in the U.S. from deportation.

The new term began as Trump criticized the justices for ruling against his position in some of those cases. In an interview with Time published Oct. 1, Trump lashed out about the cases he saw as losses, and said he regretted selecting the three justices he nominated to the high court during his first term.

But Alito, a Catholic who is seen as one of the court’s key conservatives, appeared undeterred.

“I put all of that out of my mind. I trust that my colleagues put all of that out of their minds,” Alito told Fox News Sunday in response to a question about the president’s comments.

Alito was the author of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned the high court’s previous abortion-related precedents in Roe v. Wade (1973) — which established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide — and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) — which reaffirmed Roe.

A leak of the draft of the Dobbs decision in May 2022 is seen as the most significant breach of the court’s confidentiality in its history.

Alito told CBS he was “stunned” by the leak.

“It was quite a shock,” Alito said. “But within a relatively short period of time, the thought occurred to me, and I think to the others in the majority, that this would endanger us. And it made us targets for assassination.”

In the years since the leak, multiple threat assessments by law enforcement and the justices themselves have discussed a heightened threat environment for the judiciary, including a conviction of an individual who traveled to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with plans to assassinate him.

Dobbs was not the only controversial ruling in that time, however, as the court also issued major rulings on topics including immigration and presidential power.

The Dobbs leak, Alito told CBS, “has cast a pall over the court to a degree because we don’t know who was responsible for that.”

“It’s something that I don’t think we can get out of our minds,” he said.

In 2023, the Supreme Court said that a monthslong investigation by its marshal failed to discover the source of the leak. But Alito said he had a suspicion about the identity of the leaker.

“I do have an opinion,” he told Fox. “But the evidence available at this time is not strong enough for the court or for me to say this is the person who was responsible.”

CBS asked Alito about Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in Dobbs, arguing the court should reconsider additional precedent, including Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. In response, Alito said he saw the cases as different, and Obergefell is more settled law.

“I did not think that there was any realistic prospect that it would be overruled because of the passage of time and the developments in the country,” he said of Obergefell.

In response to speculation about his future on the court and whether he plans to retire, Alito, 76, told CBS, “It’s something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term.”

“I think I can still make a contribution,” he said. “And it’s hard to give up the opportunity to do something that I think will be good for the Constitution and good for the country as long as I’m able to do it.”

Some conservatives have called for Alito to retire while Republicans have control of the Senate, and to allow Trump to nominate his replacement. But Alito said that would not factor into his decision.

“It’s too hard to predict what the political situation will be,” he said, “and what any president might do with respect to a replacement.”

In an interview with USA Today published Oct. 6, Alito also acknowledged an erroneous and later retracted report by NPR that he was retiring.

“I was amused and puzzled,” Alito said. “I wondered what had led to the erroneous report. And when the error was corrected, I wondered how many people were crest-fallen.”

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington.

Bishop Kevin Kenney shared his recent experience in Rome receiving Pope Leo XIV’s prayers and he offered updates on his treatment plan following a lung cancer diagnosis. 

In a video shared with The Catholic Spirit, Bishop Kenney offered a greeting from Rome on a “rainy Friday afternoon” Oct. 9. 

“This past Wednesday (Oct. 7), I had the opportunity to attend the audience with Pope Leo,” Bishop Kenney said. “At the end of the audience, I was able to greet him. In that greeting, I thanked him for his service and then alerted him of my recent diagnosis of lung cancer. He offered a blessing and said he would pray for me. During the apostolic blessing he gave at the end of the audience, he included all of us, family members, children of those present and all who are sick. So that blessing is extended to all of you. So may you feel that blessing from Pope Leo and from me here in Rome.” 

In an Oct. 1 update, Bishop Kenney shared that he is “doing well” as he completes seven weeks of targeted gene therapy. 

“I’ve been going to do regular blood tests, clinical visits, and so far, tracking pretty good, but as always, side effects are fatigue, and sometimes the swelling of my feet,” the bishop shared. 

On July 15, Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen joined Bishop Kenney in issuing a video message to the faithful of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis about Bishop Kenney’s lung cancer diagnosis. 

“I remain positive and hopeful and believe in prayer and God’s will. I know the process will not be easy, but with your prayers and support, all will be well,” Bishop Kenney said in that video. 

In his Oct. 1 update, Bishop Kenney expressed his gratitude for prayers. 

“I’m very, very, very thankful for all the prayers and support from schools, from preschools, from adults, from everywhere around the world to share in my illness and Project Hope.” 

According to the website of St. Olaf in Minneapolis, of which Bishop Kenney is pastor, the bishop “has chosen to walk this cancer journey under the theme Project Hope — a reminder that even in difficult times, Christ’s light is never dimmed.” 

“And Project Hope prays for all people suffering from cancer and other illnesses today,” Bishop Kenney said. 

Bishop Kenney said he continues to seek the intercession of “Blessed Fulton Sheen, St. Charbel (Makhlouf), St. Peregrine and so many others” amid his treatment and for those who are also experiencing various illnesses.  

“Thank you for your love, for your support, for your prayers and continue to pray that this journey goes forth and the good that comes out of it all is to serve God,” Bishop Kenney said. 

In addition to serving at St. Olaf, Bishop Kenney is the archdiocesan vicar for Latino Ministry. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop on Oct. 28, 2024, at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.   

Updates from Bishop Kenney can be found online at archspm.org/bishopkenney. 

Father Anderson grew up in Baldwin, Wisconsin. After graduating from college in Ohio, he moved to the Twin Cities and “really made my home here,” he told “Practicing Catholic” co-host Leah Heselton in an episode set to air at 9 p.m. Oct. 9 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. 

Brother Brennan is from Florida. He first met the Brotherhood of Hope and its campus ministry at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he attended college.  

“I moved here in 2017 from Florida as a missionary with St. Paul’s Outreach (a college campus and young adult ministry based in Mendota Heights),” Brother Brennan said. “I entered novitiate with the Brotherhood in 2020. That was a good year to be cloistered away, discerning and praying. And I professed first vows at the end of that year.” 

Brother Brennan professed his final vows July 11 on the feast of St. Benedict.  

Father Anderson was surprised to be assigned to St. Lawrence and the Newman Center.  

“I never thought, even in seminary, I would be in campus ministry, mostly because the Paulist fathers were running the Newman Center at the time and for 99 years were running St. Lawrence,” Father Anderson said. “I just was not expecting it at all. I had some clues, I would say, just because for one year I was asked to go to the University of Nebraska in Omaha. I was at the Newman Center there as the pastor for one year while Father Joseph Taphorn came up here as the new rector of the seminary.” 

In Nebraska, Father Anderson said, he got a good taste of campus ministry and loved it. For Brother Brennan, being involved in campus ministry has “been a blast,” he said.  

“What has surprised me? How quickly I have been able to perceive God’s activity among our students and staff,” Brother Brennan said. “And to see the generous response of this generation to God, that there’s something happening.” 

To hear more from Father Anderson and Brother Brennan about campus ministry at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which also repeats at 1 p.m. Oct. 3 and 2 p.m. Oct. 4.

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes Rob Vischer, president of the University of St. Thomas, in an interview about shaping the direction of the school.

Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.

After Pentagon officials said they planned to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad in December, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced the plan as “barbaric.”

President Donald Trump recently approved the execution by firing squad of Hasan, the former U.S. Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Oct. 8 in an interview with the pro-Trump TV outlet Real America’s Voice News that the execution would take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, and that it would be made public.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” said Hegseth, who uses the moniker “secretary of war” since Trump signed an executive order last year adding the “Department of War” as a secondary, ceremonial title for the Department of Defense.

Hegseth later confirmed his comments on X.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the USCCB, said in an Oct. 9 statement that he learned of the plans “with shock and great sorrow.”

“Our God is the God of life,” Archbishop Coakley said. “In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil’ (Romans 12:17). The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”

The Catholic Church’s official magisterium opposes the use of capital punishment as a violation of the inherent sanctity of human life, and advocates for the abolition of the practice worldwide.

The late Pope Francis revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to clarify the church’s teaching that capital punishment is morally “inadmissible” in the modern world “because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

In his 2020 encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” Pope Francis cited the teaching of St. John Paul II, writing that his predecessor “stated clearly and firmly that the death penalty is inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice.”

Earlier this year, Pope Leo XIV delivered a video message to Catholic death penalty abolitionists marking 15 years since the abolition of the death penalty in his home state of Illinois.

If carried out, Hasan’s execution would mark the first time U.S. officials livestreamed an execution to the public. Some legal analysts noted that appeals and other legal processes could delay Hasan’s execution beyond Dec. 3.

The last public execution in the U.S. took place in Missouri in 1937, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In his statement, Archbishop Coakley added, “I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.”

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington.

It’s no secret that meals are an important part of our lives. Besides providing us with the sustenance our bodies need, often they are the setting where we build and nourish our relationships. There’s a reason many dates include going out to a restaurant for a meal. Growing up, I can remember many Sunday dinners after Mass when we took time to make the food and place settings extra special, in the process of making time to spend with each other. For many of us, our holiday celebrations on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter revolve around a feast.

When we have lost loved ones, it is often during those holiday dinners that we are reminded of how much we miss them. Perhaps that’s why this Sunday’s first reading from Isaiah is a popular funeral reading. In speaking about the life to come, the prophet proclaims that “on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines.” We are reminded that on high in heaven, God himself will throw the most epic family feast!

God isn’t just appealing to our nostalgia, however. Throughout the Scriptures, heaven has been described in terms of a feast. Compare this Sunday’s passage from Isaiah with Exodus 24. There, Moses and the 70 elders of Israel go up Mount Sinai, and they are given a vision of God himself in heaven. The text says that afterward, they ate and drank. Many people tend to think of this as just a way of saying that they didn’t die despite seeing God. They were allowed to look on him outside of the usual way: leaving this world through death. But some scholars point out that more is going on here. They were participating in what was going on in heaven: an eternal banquet.

So many more examples can be given. To avoid forgetting God’s covenant and promises, the people were told to go up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem each year for the Passover, which culminated in the Seder meal. Jesus himself spoke (as he does in this Sunday’s Gospel) about how the kingdom of heaven is like a wedding feast for a king’s son. In other words, heaven is Jesus’ own wedding feast.

Hopefully you can see how all this connects to the Mass. In most churches, the altar is raised up a few steps, as a subtle image of the Lord’s mountain mentioned by Isaiah. On that mountain, the Lord of hosts provides a rich feast for his people — the very body and blood of his son! Thus, at Mass we are allowed the same experience as the elders in Exodus; we get a glimpse and a foretaste of the kingdom to come. Coming to Mass, then, not only sustains us with heavenly food. Like a family meal, it also nourishes our relationship with God, and with all the members of the body of Christ, including our loved ones who have died. In a way, through the Mass we can still enjoy Sunday dinner with them. I personally find great comfort in that. Perhaps it’s one of the ways that God even now “wipes the tears from every face.”

Father Ellis is pastor of Our Lady of Peace in Minneapolis.