LETTER TO PRESIDENT OF PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE LAITY

VATICAN CITY, APR 17, 2001 (VIS) - Made public today was John Paul II's Letter, dated April 5, to Cardinal James Francis Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, regarding the statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way.

The Pope recalls his January 24, 1997 meeting with the founders of the Neocatechumenal Way, and how in that encounter he joined in their prayer of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for the "precious" fruits brought forth by the Way in its 30 years of life, emphasizing the importance "of certain essential accomplishments, upon which depends the very existence of the Way. Among these, is the draft of a specific normative set of statutes with a view to formal juridical recognition."

"In the Apostolic Exhortation 'Christifideles laici'," the Holy Father writes, "I recalled that 'no charism dispenses a person from reference and submission to the Pastors of the Church' and I referred to what is written in the Dogmatic Constitution 'Lumen Gentium': 'Those who have charge over the Church should judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts, through their office not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good.'"

John Paul II emphasizes that "it is not, therefore, an easy process of recognizing and welcoming charisms. It requires a profound discernment of God's will and must be accompanied by constant prayer." The culmination of this process, the Holy Father goes on to write, is "the official act of recognition and approval of the statutes as a clear and sure rule of life."

"I entrusted this task," John Paul II concludes, "to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, due to the authority within their jurisdiction, ... as well as for the particular experience that it has in this area. Upon this is based the hope of a happy outcome to the proceeding, now in its final phase."

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