“A life without risk isn’t Christian,” warns Pope Francis in a video filmed by a French delegation of the Chemin Neuf [“New Way”] Community, which arrived in the Vatican on November 12, 2020. “The Lord will not leave you alone,” he also affirms.
On receiving Father Francois Michon, in charge of the Community, with its founder, Father Laurent Fabre, accompanied by Father Etienne Veto, the Pontiff expressed words of encouragement on the spot: “Brothers and sisters,” he said in the video posted on Twitter at the end of the day, I know that you call yourselves Chemin Neuf: I know that you are on the way.”
“To be on the way is to advance, it’s not to turn around, it’s not doing tourism, <and> it’s not to enter a labyrinth. But to be on the way means to advance, and there is a risk, there is always a risk. But a life without risk is not Christian,” he added.
“I encourage you to go on the way, in discernment of the Lord, in obedience to the Church, to the great Church where we are all brothers. However, let the Holy Spirit trace the way,” continued the Pope.
He called the Community’s members to “fidelity to Christ, fidelity to the Church, which is His Bride. The two always go together, and are never separated.”
“Thank you for what you do, thank you for your witness,” concluded Pope Francis. Go forwards always in dialogue with the Bishops, with the Bishop of Rome, but always forward and with discernment. The Lord will not leave you alone. Thank you and pray for me.”
The Chemin Neuf, born in 1973 at Lyon from a prayer group, is the initiative of Jesuit Laurent Fabre; it’s ecumenical. Today it boasts close to 2000 members — lay and consecrated — in some 30 countries. It’s called “Chemin Neuf” because of the street in Lyon where it saw the light of day.
