2011-01-17 16:24:21

Pope sends out over 200 Neocatechumenal missionary families


(January 17, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday sent over 200 families as missionaries to 46 countries across the globe, reminding them that the missionary commitment belongs to the very essence of the Church and is not something optional or additional. The Pope sent out members of the Neocatechumenal Way movement that takes its inspiration from the catechumenate of the early Church, by which converts from paganism were prepared for baptism. The Neocatechumenal Way, or more commonly the Way, also provides a post-baptismal catechumenate to adults who are already members of the Church. The 230 new families that Pope Benedict sent out on Monday during an audience with the movement’s officials and members, will join the 600 families in 120 countries sent previously by him and Pope John Paul II in past years. Besides, Pope Benedict also inaugurated 13 new 'missio ad gentes' in Germany, Austria, Macedonia, France, Ukraine, Sweden, Hungary and Venezuela, adding to the 30 already existing. He said that the purpose of ‘missio ad gentes’ is to revive Christian faith and practice in heavily secularized Christian countries or in areas where Christ still unknown. Pope Benedict wished the missionary families that their faith be like the light on a lamp stand so that it can show people the way to heaven. Begun in Madrid in 1964 the Neocatechumenal Way had its statutes approved by the Holy See in 2008. Pope Benedict wished that the Holy See’s very recent approval of the 'Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way,' will be a precious instrument in contributing to a radical and joyful revival of faith in the new evangelization.








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