FROM FELICITY

 Reposting from a follower in Australia:

Thanks Tim for your excellent website Junglewatch- please post this article & summary about Pope Leo 19/1/26 meeting 1000 members of Neocatechumenal Way

posted by Felicity from Australia 



https://catholicweekly.com.au/pope-encourages-neocatechumenal-way-to-continue-mission-without-closing-yourselves-off/

Comment by Felicity

Pope Leo on 19/1/26 at an audience with Kiko Arguello and 1000 Neocatechumenal way members responded  to the many complaints about the Neocatechumenal way. 

His comments show the Popes  grave concern about Kiko Arguello and Nc catechists using coercive control , inducing guilt and fear  to control others , telling them to obey Nc leaders and not respecting a persons privacy, internal forum or their conscience.

Kiko Argüello and Nc leaders send people including babies &  children to dangerous places including war zones and encourages them to die as a martyr eg China , PNG , Ukraine . Sudan , Nigeria . The pope was warning them of the risks. They are on notice now and if they disobey then the Pope has options to take the matter further 

The Neocatechumenal way often isolate themselves having separate masses and meetings each week ONLY for Nc members as if they are a parallel church. Pope Leo reminds and reprimands them as previous popes have done - Kiko was at the private papal audience with Pope Leo and 1000 Neocatechumenal members - these  criticisms and mandates by Pope Leo were directed specifically at the Neocatechumenal Way 

The Neocatechumenal way cult has done immense damage to my family for more than 20 years including spiritual abuse , emotional abuse, and severe financial abuse - but they hide the money from the local bishop and parish - no accounting for where the tithe and other enormous amounts have gone when given to the catechists who say “ renounce the goods””show money is not your God” and humiliate people at guarantors meetings and scrutinies if they don’t obey or don’t give enough money to the lay catechists. Pilgrimages continue by Neocatechumenal Way in 2026 to West Bank and Israel despite the war and “do not travel “ govt warnings. 

The pope must act decisively  to stop the damage being done by Kiko and Neocatechumenal leaders. The Neocatechumenal Way have not heeded the  warnings by previous Popes . Most activities are not approved  by the Vatican in the Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way  

• the tithe - unapproved , 
• request to obey Catechists- unapproved 
• spiritual marriage - unapproved 
• Ketubah covenant in Israel - unapproved 
• milk and honey ceremony - unapproved 
• After receiving the white garment
• - Kiko emphases “ renounce the goods” “ go on mission “ and misuses a bible quote about 
• “Common goods “to insist you  share all your money with Nc- unapproved 

19/1/25 Pope Leo told the members of the Neocatechumenal Way that they must live their spirituality “without ever isolating yourselves from the rest of the ecclesial body” and to “go forward in joy and humility, without closing yourselves off, as builders and witnesses of communion.”  

You do a great amount of good, but its goal is to allow people to know Christ, while always respecting the life path and conscience of each individual,”  Pope Leo said. The proclamation of the Gospel, catechesis, and the various forms of pastoral activity must always be free from forms of coercion, rigidity, and moralism, so that they do not generate feelings of guilt and fear rather than interior liberation,” he said.

The pope’s words on personal freedom echoed similar remarks by Pope Francis, who, in 2014, warned the ecclesial reality against the dangers of pressuring its members and to respect their choice “to seek, outside the Way, other forms of Christian life that may help him or her to grow in their answer to the Lord’s response.”

The pope also expressed his gratitude to the many families in mission who left behind “the securities of ordinary life” and set out on mission, sometimes in dangerous areas, “with the sole desire of proclaiming the Gospel and witnessing to God’s love.”

The pope also told members of the Neocatechumenal Way that carrying out the mission to evangelize also requires interior vigilance and wise critical capacity to discern certain risks

 

There is so much invasion of privacy , coercion , secrecy, control by the Neocatechumenal Way. They often keep secrets from the local bishops and a Neocatechumenal priest told me that they won’t show the bishop or anyone in the parish what they do with all the money and belongings they collect from people . The “tenth” or “tithe” to lay catechists and request to “ obey lay catechists and Kiko Arguello has never been approved by the Vatican.  It’s not in the statutes. At the “spiritual marriage ceremony “ and “Ketubah “ covenant in Israel the catechists insist lifelong on a huge financial commitment and obedience to Kiko Arguello and the catechists. The communities are still being sent to Israel for pilgrimages despite the war.  

They have destroyed so many marriages and families 

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Pope Leo 19/1/26 meeting 1000 members of Neocatechumenal Way 

Posted by Felicity