This Sunday is the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR).

The theme for this year is “Migrants, missionaries of hope”

The WDMR, which usually falls on the last Sunday of September, is being celebrated this year on the 4th / 5th 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.  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”.

‘The communities that welcome migrants and refugees can be living witnesses of a society where the dignity of all as children of God is recognised and in which all are brothers and sisters, part of the same family.’ Pope Leo XIV

You may access Pope Leo’s full message here