Vatican City, Clementine Hall, January 24, 1997
The Pope has received in audience the itinerants of the Neocatechumenal Way. During the meeting in the Clementine Hall, the Pope made the following speech:
“Dear brothers and sisters:
1. Welcome to the Pope’s residence! I greet you warmly, dear lay itinerants and priests, together with your leaders, the founders of the Neocatechumenal Way. Your visit brings me great comfort.
I know that you have come directly from the gathering you held at Mount Sinai and on the shores of the Red Sea. For various reasons, this has been a historic moment for you. You have chosen for your spiritual retreat a place of great significance in the history of salvation—a place well-suited for listening to and meditating on the Word of God, and for better understanding the Lord’s plan for you. In this way, you have wished to commemorate the thirty years of the Way’s existence. How far you have come with the Lord’s help! Over the years, the Way has experienced truly impressive growth and spread within the Church. It began among the shantytown dwellers of Madrid, like the mustard seed of the Gospel, and thirty years later, it has become a great tree, now spreading to more than one hundred countries around the world, with a significant presence also among Catholics of the Eastern Churches.
2.
Like every anniversary, yours too, when viewed in the light of faith,
becomes an occasion for praise and thanksgiving for the abundance of
gifts that the Lord has bestowed upon you over the years—and, through
you, upon the entire Church. For many, the
Neocatechumenal experience has been a journey of conversion and maturation in the faith
through the rediscovery of Baptism as the true source of life and
of the Eucharist as the culminating moment in the life of a
Christian; through the rediscovery of the Word of God, which,
shared in fraternal communion, becomes the light and guide of
life; and through the rediscovery of the Church as an authentic
missionary community.
How many young men and women, thanks to the Way, have
also discovered their priestly and religious vocations! Your visit also
gives me the joyful opportunity to join in your song of praise and
thanksgiving for the “wonders” (magnalia) that God has worked
in the experience of the Way.
3. Its history is part of the flourishing of ecclesial movements and associations, which is one of the most beautiful fruits of the spiritual renewal set in motion by the Second Vatican Council. This flourishing has been—and continues to be even today—a great gift of the Holy Spirit and a shining sign of hope on the threshold of the third millennium. Both pastors and the lay faithful must know how to welcome this gift with gratitude, but also with a sense of responsibility, bearing in mind that “in the Church, both the institutional and the charismatic aspects—both the hierarchy and the associations and movements of the faithful—are coessential and contribute to life, renewal, and sanctification, albeit in different ways” (to the participants in the International Colloquium on Ecclesial Movements, March 2, 1987, no. 3: *L’Osservatore Romano*, Spanish-language edition, March 15, 1987, p. 24).
In today’s deeply secularized world, the New Evangelization stands as one of the fundamental challenges. Ecclesial movements, which are characterized precisely by their missionary zeal, are called to a special commitment in a spirit of communion and collaboration. In the encyclical *Redemptoris Missio*, I wrote on this subject: “When they integrate themselves humbly into the life of the local Churches and are warmly welcomed by bishops and priests into diocesan and parish structures, the movements represent a true gift from God for the New Evangelization and for missionary activity proper. I therefore recommend promoting them and making use of them to breathe new life into Christian life, especially among young people” (no. 72). For this reason, for the year 1998—which, as part of the preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, is dedicated to the Holy Spirit—I have called for a common witness by all ecclesial movements, under the guidance of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. It will be a time of communion and of renewed commitment to the service of the Church’s mission. I am certain that you will not miss this very significant event.
4. The Neocatechumenal Way is 30 years old: the age, I would say, of a certain maturity. Your meeting at Sinai has, in a certain sense, opened a new stage before you. Therefore you have appropriately sought not only to look back at the past in a spirit of faith, but also to look ahead to the future, asking yourselves what God’s plan for the Neocatechumencal Way is at this historic moment. The Lord has put a precious treasure in your hands. How to live it to the full? How to develop it? How to share it with others? How to defend it from various present and future dangers? These are some of the questions you have asked yourselves, as leaders of the Way or as its first itinerants. To answer these questions, in an atmosphere of prayer and deep reflection, at Sinai you began the process of drafting Statutes for the Way. This is a very important step that will lead to its formal juridical recognition by the Church, and it gives you a further guarantee of the authenticity of your charism. As we know, “those who have charge over the Church should judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts [the charisms], through their office not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good” (Lumen gentium, n. 12). I encourage you to continue the work you have begun under the guidance of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and especially, of its Secretary, Bishop Stanislaw Rylko, present here with you. My special prayers go with you on this path. Before concluding, I would like to give a cross to several sisters as a sign of their fidelity to the Church and their total dedication to the evangelizing mission. May the Lord Jesus be your comfort and support at difficult moments. May the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the Church, be your model and guide in every circumstance. With these wishes, I impart my affectionate Blessing to you here present and to all who are involved in the Neocatechumenal Way.
