Pope meets with Japanese bishops to discuss Neocatechumenal Way

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Japanese bishops, including the president of the bishops' conference, met with Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican officials to discuss the Neocatechumenal Way.

The Dec. 13 meeting with four Japanese bishops had been called by Pope Benedict, said the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, Archbishop Leo Jun Ikenaga of Osaka.

He told Catholic News Service that the meeting lasted nearly two hours and included the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and "several other cardinals."

While the archbishop would not comment on the substance of the meeting, he said the bishops would have to have further discussions with the Vatican and the Neocatechumenal Way's co-founder, Kiko Arguello.

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