Pope Francis plans an Extraordinary Missionary Month for October 2019 to awaken the commitment of the missio ad gentes and transform ordinary pastoral outreach along missionary lines. The goal is to move away from tiredness, formalism and self-preservation. From Benedict XV's missio ad gentes to Vatican II, from Pope John Paul II to Evangelical Gaudium, this is the Church’s “essential task”,

During the Angelus Pope Francis mentioned World Mission Day, entrusting “the mission of the Church in the world" to Saint John Paul II. A Letter by the pontiff about the centennial of Benedict XV's ‘Maximum Illud’ is released. "Contrasting God to Caesar would be fundamentalism." More than a hundred Claretians are canonised, martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, "to support Christians who event nowadays are subjected to discrimination and persecution in different parts of the world." The pope calls for prayers for peace in the world and Kenya.