ACI Prensa Staff, 21 January, 2026 / 2:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Leo XIV received the leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way — including Kiko Argüello, who along with the late Carmen Hernández founded the apostolate — and members of the international team, María Ascensión Romero and Father Mario Pezzi, in an audience at the Vatican on Monday.
In his Jan. 19 address, the Holy Father highlighted the missionary zeal of the families that make up this ecclesial movement of Catholic initiation, founded in Madrid, Spain, in 1964, which, as the pontiff recalled, invites people “to rediscover the meaning of baptism.”
He also praised their charism, as well as their evangelization and catechetical work, which, according to the Holy Father, represents “a valuable contribution to the life of the Church.”
In this context, he emphasized that the members of the Neocatechumenal Way have “rekindled the fire of the Gospel wherever it seemed to be dying out” and have accompanied many people and Christian communities in “rediscovering the beauty of knowing Jesus.”
He also emphasized that living the experience of the Neocatechumenal Way and carrying out its mission requires “inner vigilance and a wise critical capacity” to discern certain risks that are always lurking in spiritual and ecclesial life.”
