Vatican City, Jan 11, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Earlier today at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI met with a group of some 200 families from the Catholic Neocatechumenal Way movement, all of whom are preparing for evangelistic missions to various parts of the world--particularly Latin America.
The Pope told the group, which recently came under some scrutiny for certain liturgical practices, to be missionaries of the new evangelization and “humble and joyful witnesses” of Christ.
Known as "mission families", these groups were established in 1986 in response to the late John Paul II’s call for the faithful to undertake a “new evangelization.”
Participants, who all belong to the Neocatechumenal Way, offer themselves as volunteers to go to countries where the Church needs help. Their destination is decided by the founders of the Neocatechumenal Way - the Spaniards Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez, and the Italian priest Mario Pezzi - bearing in mind the specific requirements of each particular area, and in response to requests from bishops who ask for "mission families" to be sent to their dioceses.