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“My First Priority Will Be to Listen”: First Woman Appointed to Lead Pontifical Mission Societies Shares Her Vision with Press Crux
Irish missionary Sister Mary Teresa Barron, appointed by Pope Leo XIV to become President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, speaks exclusively to Press Crux about the future of evangelization, the lessons she learned in Africa, the often-overlooked contribution of women to the Church, and the challenges facing missionary communities. Ahead of taking office in January 2027, she also delivers a special message to Catholics in Mexico and Latin America: “Your missionary vocation is more important than ever.”
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | VATICAN
Ana Paula Morales (Poli)
11/2/202613 min read
Contenido de mi publicación
MEXICO CITY.- As Sister Mary Teresa Barron prepares to become the first woman to lead the Pontifical Mission Societies, the worldwide network that supports the Catholic Church's missionary activity, she says her first priority will not be to announce a sweeping reform program or introduce new strategies from Rome. Instead, she intends to begin by listening to the local Churches, missionaries, and communities whose daily experiences shape the Church's mission.
“My first priority will be to listen: to listen to the Pontifical Mission Societies around the world, to local Churches, to missionaries, and to the communities they serve,” Barron told Press Crux in an exclusive written interview.
“Effective mission begins with listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying through the People of God. Before proposing priorities, it is important to hear the joys, hopes, challenges, and realities experienced by the Church in different contexts,” she added.
Appointed by Pope Leo XIV on October 8, the Irish missionary will assume office on January 4, 2027, as President of the Pontifical Mission Societies and Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization's Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.
Her appointment comes at a time of significant change in global Catholicism. According to the Catholic Church's statistical report published by Fides News Agency in October 2026, based on 2024 data, the number of Catholics worldwide has reached approximately 1.422 billion. Africa continues to experience substantial Catholic population growth, while the number of women religious and major seminarians has declined globally.
These contrasting trends reflect the diverse realities of a worldwide Church whose missionary communities face vastly different challenges, from poverty and social upheaval to cultural transformation and the formation of new generations.
What are the Pontifical Mission Societies?
The Pontifical Mission Societies are a worldwide network serving the Pope and local Churches by promoting missionary awareness, prayer, formation, and financial solidarity. They comprise four organizations: the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which supports the pastoral needs of younger Churches; the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, which assists the formation of seminarians and religious; the Missionary Childhood Association, which encourages children to participate in the Church's missionary work; and the Pontifical Missionary Union, which promotes missionary formation and awareness. Through this network, the Church helps sustain seminaries, parish communities, catechetical programs, churches, chapels, and pastoral activities, particularly in regions where local resources are insufficient.
The scale of these needs is considerable. According to the 2026 Fides statistical dossier, the Church has 111,602 mission stations worldwide, of which only 4,187 have a resident priest. Another 107,415 operate without a permanently resident priest.
For Barron, the importance of the Pontifical Mission Societies goes beyond managing resources or organizing collections.
“The Pontifical Mission Societies have a unique role in fostering solidarity among Churches, helping us to recognise that we are one missionary family in which no community should feel isolated or forgotten,” she explained.
She also hopes to strengthen missionary formation, deepen collaboration among local Churches, and encourage a broader understanding of missionary responsibility.
“I would also like to strengthen missionary formation, deepen collaboration among local Churches, and promote a greater awareness that mission is the responsibility of every baptised person,” she said.
From Ireland to Africa: More Than Three Decades of Missionary Vocation
Born on November 7, 1968, in Donegal, Ireland, Mary Teresa Barron joined the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles in 1992. She completed her novitiate in Cork and later served in Nigeria and Tanzania, where her missionary work included education, pastoral ministry, community development, and programs supporting women and people affected by HIV/AIDS.
She made her perpetual profession on July 1, 2001. Her academic formation includes postgraduate studies in Public Healthcare Administration and International Development in Dublin.
Barron became Superior General of her congregation in 2018. She subsequently served as President of the Service of Documentation and Study on Global Mission (SEDOS) from 2022 to 2025 and President of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) from 2023 to 2025.
Her background also includes participation in the Church's synodal process and responsibilities connected with the Holy See. But it is her years in Africa that she considers among the most formative experiences of her religious life.
“My years in Africa have been among the greatest gifts of my missionary life. The local Churches there taught me that evangelization is first and foremost about relationships and presence,” Barron told Press Crux.
“Before proclaiming the Gospel with words, one must be willing to share life with people, to listen to their stories, to rejoice in their hopes, and to walk with them through their struggles.”
She particularly remembers the women she encountered in African communities, whose faith impressed her despite the poverty and limited resources surrounding them.
“I was deeply touched by the vitality of faith expressed especially by the women with whom I worked closely. Even in situations marked by poverty or limited resources, I encountered extraordinary resilience, joy, and trust in God's providence.”
Those encounters challenged her understanding of evangelization.
“These experiences challenged me to understand mission not as something one brings to others but as a mutual exchange of gifts in which all are evangelized,” she explained.
“This Appointment Was Not Something I Sought or Expected”
Barron acknowledged that she was surprised when she was approached about the possibility of taking on her new Vatican responsibilities.
“When I was first approached about the possibility of this appointment, I was very shocked to be considered but also excited as a missionary to have this possibility of influencing the missionary vocation of all the baptized,” she said.
Her first concern was that she had not yet completed her mandate as leader of her religious congregation.
“Like every missionary vocation, this appointment was not something I sought or expected. I have not completed my mandate as the Leader of my Congregation.”
She therefore wanted to discern the proposal together with the members of her congregation's leadership council.
“So my instinctive reaction was to verify that I could share the request with my Councillors serving with me on the Congregational Leadership Council so we could discern together our response to the call.”
Despite her awareness of personal limitations, she described experiencing a sense of spiritual peace.
“While I was deeply aware of my own limitations, at the same time, I experienced an inner peace that came from trusting that the Lord never calls without also providing the grace necessary for the mission entrusted.”
For Barron, her appointment is a continuation rather than a departure from her original missionary vocation.
“It is not a new path but a new way of serving the same Gospel,” she explained.
“I receive it as an invitation to place myself and the experience of my missionary Congregation even more fully at the service of the universal Church, especially of those local Churches that continue to witness to Christ in challenging circumstances.”
She summarized this understanding of missionary service in a particularly striking statement:
“Mission belongs to God. We are simply collaborators in God's saving work, called to listen, accompany, and foster communion among peoples and cultures.”
“The Greatest Challenge Facing the Church Is Also Her Greatest Opportunity”
Asked about the most urgent challenges facing young Churches and missionary territories, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Barron identified the formation of missionary disciples as her foremost concern.
“First and foremost, I believe that the greatest challenge facing the Church today is also her greatest opportunity: forming missionary disciples who can live and witness to the Gospel authentically in today's world,” she said.
She believes that Christian mission must be reflected not only in proclamation, but also in a way of life marked by compassion, service, justice, and hope.
“In a world increasingly marked by individualism, polarisation, fear of difference, and social fragmentation, the Church is called to form women and men who can build bridges, foster dialogue, and witness to the dignity of every human person,” Barron said.
“Mission today requires not only proclaiming the Gospel but embodying it in the way we live, relate to one another, and care for our common home.”
She emphasized the importance of comprehensive formation for clergy, religious, and lay Catholics who must respond to rapidly evolving social, cultural, technological, and spiritual realities.
“One of the most pressing [challenges] is the need for integral formation that equips clergy, religious, and lay faithful to respond to rapidly changing social, cultural, technological, and spiritual realities while remaining firmly rooted in the Gospel,” she explained.
Poverty, inequality, migration, conflict, and environmental degradation are also among the challenges she sees affecting missionary communities.
“These realities affect not only material conditions but also human dignity, social cohesion, and the capacity of communities to flourish,” she said.
“The Church's mission cannot be separated from promoting justice, peace, reconciliation, and care for creation, because these are integral to the Gospel message.”
Young People and the Future of Evangelization
Another priority for Barron is accompanying young people who are searching for belonging, purpose, and hope.
“Across the world, many are searching for identity, belonging, purpose, and hope. They are often deeply generous and passionate about creating a better world, yet they can also feel disconnected from institutions and communities,” she observed.
“The Church must find ways of continuing to listen to them, walk with them, and create spaces where they can encounter Christ and discover their own missionary vocation.”
Despite these challenges, she expressed considerable hope for the future of young Churches.
“The young Churches are not simply recipients of missionaries or missionary support; they are increasingly becoming missionary protagonists,” she said.
“They are enriching the universal Church with their faith, vitality, creativity, intercultural experience, and deep sense of community.”
For Barron, missionary cooperation must involve mutual learning rather than a relationship in which some Churches only give and others only receive.
“The future of mission will depend greatly on our ability to learn from one another and to recognise that every local Church has both gifts to receive and gifts to share.”
“It Is Not About One Woman Receiving a Position”
Barron's appointment is historic because she will be the first woman to lead the Pontifical Mission Societies. Yet she insisted that its significance extends far beyond her personal achievements.
“I view this appointment as a recognition of the countless women who, throughout the history of the Church, have dedicated their lives to the mission of the Gospel,” she told Press Crux.
She recalled the generations of religious and lay women who have served as evangelizers, educators, catechists, healthcare workers, community builders, pastoral leaders, and missionaries, often without public recognition.
“Many have served in remote places, often with little recognition, yet their witness has been indispensable to the growth and vitality of Christian communities.”
Barron also reflected on the way the history of evangelization has traditionally been recorded.
“It is often said that history is 'his-story', and when we look at many of the accounts of evangelisation, the contributions of men understandably occupy much of the recorded narrative.”
“Yet alongside that story is what some have called 'her-story' — the often-overlooked story of women whose faith, courage, and perseverance helped establish, sustain, and nurture Christian communities around the world.”
In many places, she noted, women were among the first evangelizers, passing on the faith in families, schools, health centers, and local communities.
“Their contribution has not always been adequately documented, but it has been immeasurable.”
Barron hopes her appointment will draw attention to that largely unrecognized history.
“It is not about one woman receiving a position; it is about recognising the countless women whose service has made the Church what it is today.”
She also expressed hope that younger women, both religious and lay, would see her appointment as encouragement.
“I hope young women, both religious and lay, will see in this moment an encouragement to continue offering their talents generously in the service of the Gospel.”
She recalled Pope Francis' repeated calls for broader participation by women in discernment, decision-making, and leadership within the Church.
“This appointment can be seen as another step within that larger journey, while reminding us that the mission of the Church has always been enriched by the indispensable contribution of women, whether visible or hidden,” she said.
“Unity Does Not Require Uniformity”
Through her experiences in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, Barron says she has developed a deeper appreciation of the Church's increasingly multicultural identity.
“These experiences have reinforced my conviction that the Church is increasingly multicultural and intercultural, and that one of her great strengths lies in her ability to embrace diversity while fostering unity in Christ,” she explained.
For Barron, the Church's diversity offers a particular witness in societies marked by division and polarization.
“The Spirit is at work among different peoples, cultures, and traditions, enriching the entire Body of Christ through their unique gifts and witness.”
“By living and modelling authentic interculturality, the Church offers a powerful sign that unity does not require uniformity, but rather flourishes through mutual respect, dialogue, and the celebration of our differences as gifts from God.”
A Message to Mexico and Latin America: “Your Missionary Vocation Is More Important Than Ever”
Speaking specifically to Catholics in Mexico and throughout Latin America, Barron urged them to recognize the importance of their role in the universal Church's missionary work.
“To Catholics in Mexico and throughout Latin America, I would say that your missionary vocation is more important than ever,” she told Press Crux.
She acknowledged that her direct experience of the Latin American Church has been limited to visits to her congregation's communities in Argentina and a brief visit to Brazil.
Nevertheless, she said she has been inspired by the region's commitment to marginalized communities and by missionary initiatives in the Amazon.
“I think, for example, of the Church's commitment to those on the margins of society, and of initiatives such as the missionary outreach to Amazonia, where bishops, priests, religious, and lay women and men are prepared together and work together in a spirit of shared responsibility and co-responsibility for mission.”
“Such experiences offer important lessons for the universal Church about synodality, participation, and missionary outreach.”
Barron said Latin America's religious heritage and pastoral creativity make it an important contributor to the future of evangelization.
“Latin America possesses a rich heritage of faith, popular devotion, pastoral creativity, and deep commitment to the poor.”
“The universal Church looks to Latin America not only as a region that receives missionaries, but increasingly as a region that sends missionaries, shares its gifts generously, and contributes significantly to the evangelising mission of the Church.”
She believes that missionary life grows strongest when it is deeply rooted in faith-filled communities and expressed through concrete service.
“Your experience reminds us that mission grows strongest when it is rooted in vibrant communities of faith and expressed through concrete acts of solidarity and service.”
“Mission Is Not the Responsibility of a Few Specialists”
Barron also emphasized that missionary activity cannot be understood as the exclusive responsibility of priests, religious, or people who travel to distant countries.
“One of the important developments in the Church since Vatican II has been a deeper understanding that mission is not the responsibility of a few specialists, nor is it limited to travelling to distant countries to proclaim the Gospel.”
“Mission belongs to the whole People of God, and missionary discipleship is needed everywhere.”
She challenged Catholics to look beyond the walls of their churches and become attentive to those searching for hope, compassion, and belonging in their own surroundings.
“Wherever we are, we are called to look beyond the walls of our churches and to notice those around us who are searching for hope, meaning, compassion, and belonging.”
“We are called to be a Church that goes forth, a Church that encounters people where they are, and a Church that bears witness to God's love through both word and action.”
Listening Before Acting: The Mission She Will Bring to Rome
As Barron prepares to begin her new responsibilities in January 2027, she carries with her the experiences of the African communities where she served, her years of religious leadership, and her encounters with local Churches across several continents.
Her appointment also comes during the centenary year of World Mission Sunday, established in 1926, as the Church reflects on its shared missionary responsibility.
Before announcing new programs, however, she insists that she wants to understand the realities of those she is called to serve.
“Before proposing priorities, it is important to hear the joys, hopes, challenges, and realities experienced by the Church in different contexts,” she said.
Her final message was addressed not only to missionaries serving far from home, but to every Catholic.
“My encouragement to all Catholics is to cultivate a truly missionary heart: to pray for the missions, support them generously, and witness to the Gospel in daily life.”
She concluded with a vision of mission rooted in human encounter:
“Mission begins whenever we allow ourselves to encounter others with openness, compassion, and a desire to share the hope that comes from Christ. In this sense, every disciple is a missionary, and every Christian community is called to be a living sign of God's love for the world.”
This exclusive interview was conducted in writing by Ana Paula Morales for Press Crux. Sister Mary Teresa Barron's quotations are taken from her original English responses. Institutional and biographical information was cross-checked with the Holy See Press Office and other Church sources. Statistical figures are drawn from the 2026 Fides Catholic Church statistical dossier, based on 2024 data.
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