With these happy faces, 270 missionary families of the Neocatechumenal Way left the Vatican after being received by the Pope. Now they leave for places where Christianity has been forgotten, to talk about God.
Among them, is the Castillo de Luna family with their six children. They are from Seville in
Spain, but now will cross half the world to go as missionaries to Japan. Their children were in the front row, so the Pope invited them to go on the stage.
JUAN PABLO
'I really did not want to go up because I was embarrassed, then the woman pushed me and I went up.â?
Four of these pint-sized children accompanied Pope Francis throughout the ceremony. Although the Pope asked them the same as he asks adults.
CAYETANO
'He told me to pray for him, he will also pray for us.â?
The small children will now depart with their parents to the country of the rising sun. Their fathers goal is to propose their faith living by example as a normal Christian family, in a country where Christianity is a minority religion.
JOSÉ MANUEL CASTILLO
'The mission is to live every day by the Gospel, seeing how God paves the way every day, and also by doing His will. FLASH. He showed us the beauty of the family, of marriage, we are open to life, the fruit of this is our six children, and one that is in heaven, and see how the Lord has put us in this direction, he has called us as a family unit and sent us on this mission.â?
But his path will not be without difficulties. He still does not know the exact city that will host them on their mission. Once that is confirmed that is when he will relocate his life and that of his children. Even
though, this will entail a change of geographic course, it does not scare them.
JOSÉ MANUEL CASTILLO
'We have seen that it is not our own doing that got us here, we have seen how the Lord has designed all of our history and we think that all of the difficulties along the way have been planned by getting us afloat, especially when relying on prayer and our community.â?
Perhaps Cayetano, Rodrigo, Juan Pablo and Francisco will one day tell their children, in Japanese, of the day they shared the stage with the Pope.
IPC/YA
MG
JM
-PR
up:YA
