On September 29-30, the General Plenary of Regnum Christi was held in Rome with the participation of the General Directing College, the General Councils of the Consecrated Branches and the lay people elected at the General Convention of 2024. The meeting was especially significant because it was the last plenary with the current composition, before the General Assemblies and the General Chapter of 2026, in which the new General Governments of the Consecrated Women, Consecrated Laity and Legionaries of Christ will be elected.
The purpose of this meeting was to continue focusing on the missionary orientation of Regnum Christi, ensuring that every institutional step is at the service of evangelization and the transformation of society.
In accordance with the Statutes of Regnum Christi, «The General Plenary is an organ of assistance to the Directing College. Its collaboration expresses the spirit of communion that characterizes the Federation... its collaboration is necessary and particularly important when it offers its opinion on documents destined for the whole Federation, evangelization guidelines and plans for the fulfillment of the common mission.» (EFRC 90).
At the start of the work, Nancy Nohrden, general manager of the Consecrated Women, invited the participants to focus on the mission that unites the entire spiritual family of Regnum Christi: «With gratitude and with our eyes fixed on Christ, we begin this last meeting of the Plenary in which we find ourselves, as a spiritual family and an apostolic body at the service of the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us.».
David Zarate, a layman who attends the College, recalled the road traveled in recent years: «Together we have gone through years of particular relevance for Regnum Christi. Years in which we have wanted to deepen the charism and promote the mission... We do not seek now to make an exhaustive account, but rather to recognize together the work of God in our midst».
Along the same lines, Félix Gómez Rueda, general director of the Lay Consecrated Men, invited to experience this plenary as a key to memory and projection: «Thanksgiving for what we have walked, memory of what we have learned and openness to what the Spirit continues to ask of Regnum Christi». He also stressed the importance of the participation of the laity, «to help bridge the gap between this Plenary and the Plenary to come.».
Horacio Gómez, a layman who attends the College, emphasized one of the priority commitments of Regnum Christi: «to be and to form communities of apostles going forth». Citing the forthcoming essay on this topic, he stated: «That wherever two or more members of Regnum Christi gather, there be a contemplative and evangelizing community... To conceive and constitute ourselves as true communities of apostles implies renewing our way of thinking and orienting our decision making, discernment and apostolic activity». He also pointed out that one of the main objectives of this meeting was to gather the experiences of this period to be included in the report that the General Board of Directors will present to the Chapter and the General Assemblies to be held in 2026.
Hernán Jiménez, L.C., stressed the importance of shared historical memory: «Rereading and taking on together the common history of the process of canonical and organizational configuration of Regnum Christi (2010-2025) has been a demanding but necessary work to consolidate memory and unity. We have been called to be witnesses of a hope that is not imposed, but offered from the humble and from the redeemed.».
John Connor, LC, to those attending the plenary, conveying to them his closeness through prayer.
A novelty for Regnum Christi as a whole: the essay on apostles' congregations
One of the most significant moments of the Plenary was the workshop dedicated to deepen the contents of the next essay «Communities of apostles in Regnum Christi.». Through excerpts and guided reflections, the participants were introduced to the main themes of this text, which seeks to illuminate how Christ's call to form community is made concrete as part of our mission in today's world.
The essay presents the apostles' congregation as a «a group that has assumed Christ's way of life, project and destiny.», who does not act on his own account, «but sustained and accompanied by the living presence of the Lord.». These communities are a sign of the Kingdom «through fraternity and service.», sustained by the Holy Spirit, who drives, strengthens and encourages them.
During the work, the following expression resonated strongly among participants «He wanted to.», which condenses Jesus' initiative: He wanted to gather us together, shape us and send us out as communities of apostles.. This conviction reminded us that community is not born of human affinities or of a structure, but of his personal call: «all those who are part of the community have been called by Jesus.», who summons each person in his daily life and asks him to follow radically from his own state of life. From this perspective, what Regnum Christi offers to the world «is not above all a doctrine, but a communion of life with Him and a fraternity of all in Him, and this is the way it wishes to carry out its mission».
This work was an opportunity to rediscover that the true identity of each Regnum Christi community is in being a space from which Christ continues to go out to meet the world through witness, service and evangelization.
This next essay will be published on December 11, 2025 and is intended to be a practical tool for Regnum Christi communities and teams around the world.
Tools for the road to 2026
The General Plenary dedicated part of its work to reviewing and complementing the inputs that the general government of Regnum Christi will bring to the next General Assemblies and the General Chapter of 2026. Among them, two contributions stand out:
First, the document of the history commission offers a narrative on the process of canonical and organizational configuration of Regnum Christi between 2010 and 2025. Its purpose is to consolidate the shared memory, to safeguard the road traveled and to provide a vision that will illuminate future decisions.
Second, the report of the General Board of Directors, which gathers together the lessons learned, fruits and challenges of the last six years of government. This document seeks to transmit to the next general governments the accumulated experience and the strengthening of common mission priorities.
As Fernando Rincón, a consecrated layman, said, «One of the main lessons learned during these six years of the current Plenary is that God is behind everything and He is the one who holds the reins... we have to trust by putting all our capacity at the service, but without thinking that we are the ones who have all the solutions».
With this work, the Plenary wanted to emphasize that it was not only a space for reflection, but also to generate guidelines and materials to share insights and lessons learned to strengthen the spirit of evangelization and apostolic communion in the entire spiritual family of Regnum Christi.
In the words of Fr. Pedro Barrajón, L.C.: «The Plenary has lived in a spirit of prayer, trust, transparency and joy this mission entrusted to it by the Statutes of Regnum Christi, that of being a support to the General Directing College in the governance of the Federation of Regnum Christi so that it may better fulfill its mission at the service of the Church.».
Acknowledgments
The Plenary concluded with a moment of gratitude to those who have been part of this journey since its beginning in 2020. Participants recalled the first steps taken amidst the challenges of the pandemic, the implementation of the Regnum Christi Federation and the preparation and development of the 2024 General Convention.
Throughout the meeting, the communiqué The Convention ended with an invitation to take on courageous and radical missionary choices, certainties and convictions and encouraging all Regnum Christi to continue walking in this direction: going out and at the service of evangelization, as a spiritual family and an apostolic body.
Special thanks were also expressed to Gina Chávez and Viviana Limón for their service at the General Secretariat. and in José de Jesús Rodríguez, L.C., for his work in the technical secretariat. In the same way, the welcome to Tere Vázquez, The new members of the General Government of Regnum Christi are the consecrated woman and the laywoman Sofia Valladares.
