Pope Leo sends a message to participants in a Mass marking the 60th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way in Madrid. The Pope praises its missionary commitment and encouraged its members to continue serving the Church’s evangelising mission, while Church leaders reflected on the movement’s growth from the shantytowns of Madrid to a presence in 138 countries worldwide.
By Debora Donnini – Madrid, Spain
With gratitude for God’s faithfulness, a joyful crowd of thousands gathered yesterday evening, 30 May, in Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way. A deep sense of emotion and gratitude could be felt among the elderly seated in the front pews, many of whom witnessed the earliest days of this ecclesial experience when Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernández first met in the shantytown of Palomeras Altas in the mid-1960s.
Many families with children were also present. Many of those children are the sons, daughters, and grandchildren of the very people who witnessed the beginnings of the Neocatechumenal Way. It developed not as something planned in advance, but gradually and organically. Today, it is present in 138 countries across all five continents, with more than 20,350 communities, thanks to the work of countless missionaries, including lay people and married couples.
Among those concelebrating were Cardinal Antonio María Rouco, Archbishop Emeritus of Madrid, several bishops, and more than one hundred priests.
The Pope: Embrace the Missionary Calling
The missionary commitment of the Way was highlighted in a message from Pope Leo XIV, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and read at the end of Mass.
“It is important to remember,” the message states, “that the evangelising mission is a fundamental task of the whole Church. With joy and humility, seeking the unity of all her members and docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church is called to bring the gift of salvation to everyone.”
“May this conviction,” the Pope continued, “inspire a renewed missionary commitment for the sake of God’s beloved children.”
Kiko: The Way, a Fruit of the Second Vatican Council
The story of the Neocatechumenal Way’s beginnings is remarkable. During the introductory remarks at the start of Mass, Kiko Argüello, who founded the Way together with Carmen Hernández, recalled that in November 1964, at just 25 years of age, he left behind his career as a painter and, inspired by the example of Saint Charles de Foucauld, went to live among the poor in this area of Madrid.
As he prayed, played the guitar, and read the Bible, gypsies and others living on the margins of society gradually gathered around him and listened to the proclamation of the kerygma.
In August 1965, when the Civil Guard arrived to demolish the shacks, Kiko managed to telephone the then Archbishop of Madrid, Monsignor Casimiro Morcillo, who came immediately and stopped the demolition. The Archbishop was deeply moved to see that small community of poor people gathered in prayer.
Carmen, witnessing the love and concern shown by Archbishop Morcillo, became convinced that the community which had formed spontaneously was truly a work of God and decided to join Kiko in his mission.
“Monsignor Casimiro invited us to go into the parishes, something we had never even considered,” Kiko recalled. “With that act of obedience, this Christian initiation began like a small seed. It has become a blessing in the lives of countless people and families and is now present in 138 nations.”
The first catecheses in the parishes of Madrid and elsewhere began in 1966.
“This is why the presence of Cardinal Cobo at this celebration is so important,” Kiko explained. “In the Way, we do nothing without the Pope and the bishops. If the Way has spread in such an extraordinary way, it is thanks to the support of all the Popes”—beginning with Saint Paul VI—“who have recognised it as a gift of the Holy Spirit for the good of the Church.”
Christian Initiation, Community and Communion
The Neocatechumenal Way is “a Christian initiation raised up by the Holy Spirit as one of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council,” Kiko said, recalling the words Pope Leo XIV addressed last Thursday to the 82nd General Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.
Speaking of a “renewed attention to Christian initiation,” the Pope said that it “cannot be understood merely as preparation for the Sacraments. Rather, it is the ‘womb’ in which a community gives birth to faith and introduces people into the Paschal life, communion with the Lord, and ecclesial fraternity.”
Referring to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Kiko noted that the Holy Family of Nazareth is an image of that mystery. In 1959, he said, he received an inspiration from the Virgin Mary “to form Christian communities like the Holy Family of Nazareth, living in humility, simplicity and praise. The other person is Christ.”
“This is the immense mystery to which the Lord calls us today,” Kiko explained, “to love, to experience perfect unity in the Holy Spirit, to preserve communion, because the only thing that can truly satisfy the human soul is complete union with the Most Holy Trinity.”
A Faithful and Merciful God
During the Mass, in their introduction to the readings, Fr Mario Pezzi and Ascensión Romero, who together with Kiko form the international team of the Neocatechumenal Way, highlighted the importance of communion and the experience of discovering that the Word becomes flesh in the lives of people.
“We have come to know a faithful and merciful God,” Romero said.
At the end of the celebration, she presented Cardinal Cobo Cano with a copy of Kiko’s icon of the Holy Trinity.
Cardinal Cobo Cano: The Church Is Communion
“The Church of Madrid and its bishop wish to thank the Neocatechumenal Way for sixty years of evangelisation in so many parts of this city,” Cardinal Cobo Cano said in his homily.
He encouraged those present to continue their missionary work in harmony with diocesan life, ecclesial communion, and respect for the freedom of each person.
Reflecting on the mystery of the Holy Trinity, he stressed that the Church “is not simply an organisation or a gathering of people,” but rather “communion.”
“There have been many signs of holiness among you,” he added, “and we are pleased to have opened in our diocese the cause for the canonisation of Carmen.”
An important milestone in that process will take place on Tuesday, 2 June, with the closing ceremony of the diocesan phase of her beatification cause, presided over by the Cardinal at Madrid’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary.
Farrell: Many Fruits from the Tree of Christian Initiation
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, also sent a message of greeting.
Spain, he recalled, has given the Church many shining examples of spiritual renewal through saints, martyrs and missionary initiatives.
“Among these fruits,” he said, “the Neocatechumenal Way undoubtedly deserves a place. It was born from the fruitful encounter between its two initiators, Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernández, and the poor of Madrid’s most humble neighbourhoods.”
From those humble beginnings sixty years ago, he noted, have come many fruits: “the return of countless people to faith and to the Church, innumerable conversions, the birth of Christian families, vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and missionary activity in many countries throughout the world.”
“It can also be said,” Farrell continued, “that from the ‘tree’ of Christian initiation—rediscovered and put into practice through the ancient ecclesial tradition of the catechumenate—many other ‘branches’ have grown and continue to bear abundant fruit for the Church: itinerant catechists, missionary diocesan seminaries, missionary families, new parishes established in mission territories, the evangelising work of the missio ad gentes, and programmes of formation and accompaniment for adolescents and young people through monthly lectio divina and annual summer pilgrimages.”
“These are gifts,” he concluded, “that you are called to preserve and help grow for the good of the whole Church.”
A Celebration of a Living History
The celebration was a joyful occasion for the entire Neocatechumenal Way, because it was precisely the experience of the shantytowns of Madrid that became the cradle in which this journey of rediscovering Baptism took shape. Built upon the three pillars of Word, Liturgy and Community, it is lived in small communities and is now present in more than 6,250 parishes across approximately 1,400 dioceses worldwide.
The cathedral itself bears witness to the deep bond between the Church of Madrid and this ecclesial reality. The paintings and stained-glass windows in the apse were created by Kiko Argüello in 2004, while one of the side chapels houses the original icon of the Virgin Mary painted by him.
What took place yesterday was more than a celebration. It was the commemoration of a story that has borne much fruit—a story that began in one of the most marginalised corners of the Spanish capital and grew from the willingness of Kiko and Carmen to follow the path the Lord had laid before them.
