Written by: Bernardo di Luca
(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 27.06.2022).-On Monday morning, June 27, the Holy Father received in audience — in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall (a Hall that was fuller than for the World Meeting of Families, held a few days before in the same Hall) –, the families of the neo-Catechumenal Way. Father Paolo Pezzi and Kiko Argüello, two of its initiators, were present. Announced during the meeting was that shortly the Cause of Beatification would begin of the other initiator, Carmen Hernández.
The Pope wished to meet with the families of the Neo-Catechumenal Way. To their surprise, he appeared walking, helped by a stick, without the wheelchair.
Addressing those present, he said: “We have listened to Jesus’ mission: ‘Go, give witness, preach the Gospel.” And from that day, the Apostles, the disciples, the people, all went forth with the same strength that Jesus had given them: it’s the strength that comes from the Spirit. ‘Go and preach . . . baptize . . . but we know that once we have baptized, the community that is born of that Baptism is free, it’s a new Church, and we must let her grow, help her to grow in her way, with her own culture … this is the history of evangelization. We are all the same in the faith: I believe in God the Father, in the Son and in the Holy Spirit; in the Son who became incarnate, died and resurrected for us; in the Spirit that helps us and makes us grow: we have the same faith, but everything in the way of one’s own culture, or of the culture of the place where the faith was preached.”
Continuing with the idea of growth of the faith in the local culture, the Holy Father added: “And this endeavour, this multi-cultural richness of the Gospel, which is born of Jesus Christ’s preaching and becomes culture, is somewhat the history of the Church: many cultures but the same Gospel, many peoples but the same Jesus Christ. So much good will, but the same Spirit and we are called to this: to go forth with the strength of the Spirit, taking the Gospel in our hearts and hands. Jesus Christ’s Gospel isn’t mine, it is Jesus Christ’s. It adapts to the different cultures but is the same. The faith grows, the faith is inculturated, but the faith is always the same.”
Focusing on the theme of the meeting (sending on mission the families of the Neo-Catechumenal Way) the Pontiff added: “This missionary spirit, of letting oneself be sent, is an inspiration for all of you. I thank you for it and I ask you to be docile to the Spirit who sends you, to be docile and obedient to Jesus Christ in His Church. Everything done in the Church, nothing outside the Church. This is the spirituality that must accompany us always: to preach Jesus Christ with the strength of the Spirit in the Church and with the Church. And the one who is the head –let’s say– of the different Churches is the Bishop: go forward always with the Bishop, always. He is the head of the Church in this country, in this State . . . ”
The Pontiff ended his address with an exhortation: “Continue in this way. Courage! Thank you for your generosity. Don’t forget the gaze of Jesus, who has sent each one of you to preach and to obey the Church. Thank you very much!
