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[Catholic Caucus] Neocatechumenal Way: Thanks God Benedict XVI Is Gone“The only solution was for the Pope to die. He did not die, he resigned. Thank God” - Kiko Argüello told Archbishop San Juan de Puerto Rico Roberto Octavio González Nieves during a meeting on vocations.The words of the founder of the Neocatechumenal Way are immortalised in a 2017 video. On other occasions, Kiko has referred to Benedict XVI’s resignation as a "gift from Our Lady".Argüello added that it was Bergoglio’s election that saved him, because Benedict XVI had asked his group to eliminate liturgical abuses, but – not surprisingly -...

Neocatechumenals Heading Into the Sunset, With a Push From the Pope On Friday September 20 Pope Francs received in audience, at Casa Santa Marta, the founder of the Neocatechumenal Way, Francisco “Kiko” Argüello, accompanied by his two lieutenants María Ascensión Romero and Fr. Mario Pezzi. On the occasion, Kiko offered the pope a sketch he had made with the likeness of Saint Francis Xavier, a Jesuit and a great missionary of Asia.The gift was not a random one. An illustrious relic of Saint Francis Xavier is kept in Macao, on the coast of China, where the Vatican congregation “de Propaganda Fide”...

While Francis sows chaos and subverts the Church, three neo-Catholic figures bicker over whether one of them has become a “radical Catholic reactionary” because he has recognized that Francis is sowing chaos and subverting the Church.  If only it were a joke...Someone has brought to our attention a running online debate between Karl Keating and one Dave Armstrong over Philip Lawler’s upcoming book Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock. Therein Lawler, a prominent spokesman of the Catholic “conservative” or neo-Catholic* versus traditionalist** constituency, expounds the reasons for his “reluctant” conclusion that Francis is a “radical [who is]...

Third, Akin’s argument that a commemoration of the “Reformation” is not a celebration of it borders on deliberate deception. Akin cites favorably “From Conflict to Communion: The Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017.”  This deplorable piece of trash, which portrays the destroyer of Christendom and his fellow “reformers” as laudable Christians who “had no desire to found a new church,” was produced jointly by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, which would more aptly be named the Pontifical Council for the Prevention of Christian Unity. The LWF’s member sects...

Lancester Bishop Michael Campbell has restricted the liturgies of the Neocatechumenal Way. On July 1st, new norms come into effect. They demand that masses are celebrated at the main altar of a church. Further the priest must consume Holy Communion before distributing it to others. Finally, the Communicants are forbidden to delay consummating Holy Communion after receiving it on their hands. In March, Archbishop Michael Byrnes of Guam issued similar norms.

Special note should also be made concerning the gesture for the Our Father. Only the priest is given the instruction to “extend” his hands. Neither the deacon nor the lay faithful are instructed to do this. No gesture is prescribed for the lay faithful in the Roman Missal; nor the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, therefore the extending or holding of hands by the faithful should not be performed.

The Vatican Secretariat of State sent a letter on April 3rd from the Holy Father to Kiko Argüello, initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way, along with Carmen Hernandez, confirming the liturgical praxis of the Way with regards to the Eucharist and the Paschal Vigil. In the letter, the Holy Father confirms that "as far as it pertains to the celebrations of the Paschal Vigil and the Sunday Eucharist, […] articles 12 and 13 [of the Statutes], read in their entirety, constitute therefore the regulatory charter of reference." This message was in response to a letter sent previously by Kiko Argüello in...