This morning, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the members of the Neocatechumenal Way, to whom he addressed the following words:

Address of the Holy Father

We have heard Jesus’ mission: “Go, bear witness, preach the Gospel”. And from that day on the apostles, the disciples, all the people went forth with the same strength of that which Jesus had given them: it is the strength that comes from the Spirit. “Go and preach … Baptize…”.

But we know that, once we are baptized, the community that is born from that baptism is free, it is a new Church; and we must leave it to grow, help it to grow in its own ways, with its own culture… And this is the history of evangelization. They are all equal in terms of faith: I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son who was incarnate, died and rose gain for us, the Spirit who helps us and makes us grow: the same faith. But all in the ways of their own culture or of the culture of the place where the faith was preached.

And this work, this multicultural richness of the Gospel, which is born from the preaching of Jesus Christ and becomes culture, is in a sense the history of the Church: many cultures but the same Gospel. Many peoples, the same Jesus Christ. Many good wills, the same Spirit. And we are called to this: to go ahead with the strength of the Spirit, taking the Gospel in the heart and in the hands. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, not mine: it is Jesus Christ’s, which is adapted to various cultures, but is the same. Faith grows, faith is inculturated, but faith is always the same.

This missionary spirit, that is, of letting oneself be sent, is an inspiration for you all. I thank you for this, and I ask of you, docility to the Spirit who sends you, docility and obedience to Jesus Christ in his Church. All in the Church, nothing outside the Church. This is the spirituality that must always accompany us: preaching 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 various Churches is the bishop: always go forward with the bishop, always. He is the head of the Church, in this country, in this state…

Go forward. Be brave! Thank you for your generosity. Do not forget the gaze of Jesus, who sent each one of you to pray and to obey the Church. Many thanks!