Dear brothers and sisters,

I extend my cordial greetings to the bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and you, lay faithful, gathered in Puebla de los Ángeles for the 17th National Missionary Congress of Mexico. Your abundant presence at this important event gives me great joy, but I am even more moved to recognize in you the generosity with which you support the missionary work of the Church through persistent prayer, sacrifices and the spiritual and material support you offer. In this way, you collaborate in the great evangelizing task of the universal Church, whose greatest privilege and duty is to bring Christ to the heart of every person.

In light of this common mission, I would like to recall a brief parable — a single verse — in which the Lord, through a domestic image, reveals to us how his Word spreads throughout history: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened’ (Mt 13:33). The yeast that Jesus speaks of was different from the dry or industrial yeasts used in baking today. At that time, small pieces of dough from previous days, already fermented, were kept and, when mixed with new flour and water, caused the whole mixture to ferment.

Saint Jerome identified the woman of the parable with the Church herself, who, with patience, is capable of integrating faith in the history and culture of the people, so as to transform them from within (cf. Comm. In Matt. II, ad 13.33). Saint John Chrysostom, for his part, comments that “yeast, when buried, is not destroyed, but changes everything to its own condition” (Hom. in Matt., XLVII, 2). Such is the power of Christ, who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5).

This also happens in Mexico. The leaven of the Gospel arrived in the hands of a few missionaries. They were the hands of the Church, who began to knead the leaven they had brought with them – the repository of faith – with the new flour of a continent that did not yet know Christ’s name. When the two were integrated, the slow and admirable process of fermentation began. The Gospel did not erase what it found, but transformed it. All the incredible richness of the inhabitants of those lands — languages, symbols, customs and hopes — was kneaded with faith, until the Gospel took root in their hearts and blossomed into works of unique holiness and beauty.

At that dawn of faith, God gave the Church a sign of perfect inculturation. At Tepeyac, the Mother of the true God for whom we live appeared as a visible sign of the love with which the Lord drew close to the inhabitants of those lands, and of the faithful response of a people who lifted their gaze to their Saviour, determined to accept Our Lady's invitation, as at Cana, to do whatever He told them (cf. Jn 2:5).

The message of Guadalupe transformed into a missionary impulse. The first evangelizers – diocesan, Franciscan, Dominican, Augustine and Jesuit – faithfully assumed the task of doing what Christ commanded. Where they preached, faith flourished, and with it, culture, education and charity. Thus, little by little, the dough continued to ferment and the Gospel became bread capable of feeding the deepest hunger of the people.

Among those who continued to knead the faith in those lands, in Puebla the figure of Blessed Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, a pastor and missionary who understood his ministry as service and leaven, is prominent. I remember well, when I visited Puebla as Prior General of the Augustinians, how the figure of the Blessed One remained alive in the memory of the people of Puebla; his fatherhood had left such a deep mark that it can still be perceived today in the simple faith of the faithful.

The example of this model bishop challenges today's pastors, for he teaches that to govern is to serve, that to form seriously is to evangelize, and that all authority, when exercised according to Christ's criteria, becomes a source of communion and hope. In his life and writings, Palafox shows us that the true missionary does not dominate, but loves; does not impose, but serves; and does not exploit faith for personal gain — whether material, power or prestige — but distributes faith like bread.

Our time presents itself to us as a millstone in which the pains of poverty, social divisions, the challenges of new technologies and sincere desires for peace continue to be ground into new flour that risks being fermented with bad yeast (cf. Mt 16:12). For this reason, the Lord calls you, today's missionaries, to be the hands of the Church that place the leaven of the Risen One in the dough of history, so that hope may rise again.

It is not enough to say “Lord, Lord”; we must do the will of the Father (cf. Mt 7:21). We must be willing to plunge our hands into the dough of the world! It is not enough to talk about flour without getting our hands dirty; we must touch it — as Chrysostom said — mix with it, let the Gospel merge with our lives until it transforms them from within (cf. ibid.). Thus, the Kingdom will grow, not by force or by numbers, but by the patience of those who, with faith and love, continue to knead together with God.

I know that the Catholic Church in Mexico strives to live this call of Christ to the full; for this reason, I thank you for your generous efforts and encourage you to always be missionaries according to his divine Heart, pilgrims of hope and artisans of peace. May the Lord Jesus make all your initiatives fruitful, and may Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of Evangelization, always accompany you with her motherly tenderness, showing you the way that leads to God. With affection, I impart my heartfelt blessing, assuring you of my prayers and closeness. Continue to work faithfully, until “all the dough is leavened” (cf. Mt 13:33).

Vatican, 3 November 2025, memorial of Saint Martin de Porres.

LEO PP. XIV

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 7 November 2025