You have lit the fire of the Gospel where it seemed to be dying out.
Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV meets with 1,000 itinerant catechists from the Neocatechumenal Way
This morning, January 19, 2026, the Holy Father Leo XIV received more than 1,000 itinerant catechists in an audience in the Hall of Blessings, responsibles for the Neocatechumenal Way in 138 nations on five continents.
At the end of their convivence held at the “Servant of Yahweh” Center in Porto San Giorgio, under the guidance of the team responsible for the Way worldwide, Kiko Argüello, Father Mario Pezzi, and María Ascensión Romero met in Rome for their first encounter with the Holy Father Leo XIV.
During the convivence, as has been done every year since the Way began, participants shared the evangelization experience that the Way is carrying out in more than 6,200 parishes in 1,408 dioceses around the world to promote Christian initiation, a tool to help bishops and priests in different countries in their work of proclaiming the Gospel in today’s world.
Also present at the gathering and audience with the Holy Father were the 115 rectors of the Diocesan Missionary Seminaries that the Way has helped to open in many dioceses, together with another hundred formators.
In living together, it has been possible to see, through different experiences on different continents, the difficult situation in which the Church is called to carry out its mission today. In this global context, it has become clear that the Neocatechumenal Way is called to contribute to peace and harmony among people, bringing the hope of the Christian proclamation, the kerygma, and forming Christian communities capable of giving the signs of faith to this generation: love and unity.
The Pope’s arrival and departure were accompanied by loud and joyful applause and songs by Kiko Argüello, which the entire assembly sang along to enthusiastically.
Kiko presented the Holy Father with a copy of the icon of the Good Shepherd, painted by himself in 1982, and, since the Pope has a visit to Spain scheduled in the coming months, a publication on Madrid Cathedral, Nuestra Señora de la Almudena, where Kiko painted the mystery crown and the stained glass windows of the apse in 2004.
Pope Leo addressed those present with these words:
I would like to express my gratitude to the families who, responding to the inner prompting of the Spirit, leave behind the security of ordinary life and set out on mission, even to distant and difficult territories, with the sole desire to proclaim the Gospel and bear witness to God’s love.
Itinerant teams made up of families, catechists, and priests participate in the evangelizing mission of the whole Church and… contribute to “awakening” the faith of non-Christians who have never heard of Jesus Christ.
Living the experience of the Neocatechumenal Way and carrying out the mission also requires, on your part, interior vigilance and a wise critical capacity, in order to discern certain risks that always threaten spiritual and ecclesial life.
Charisms are always placed at the service of the Kingdom of God and of the one Church of Christ, in which no gift of God is more important than any other.
The good you do is great, because its purpose is to enable people to know Christ.
Continue forward in joy and humility, without discouragement, as builders and witnesses of communion.
Dear friends, I thank you for your commitment, for your joyful witness, and for the service you render to the Church and to the world. I encourage you to continue with enthusiasm, and I bless you, invoking upon you the intercession of the Virgin Mary, that she may accompany and protect you. Thank you!
