Two hundred and fifty archbishops and bishops from five continents, accompanied by itinerant missionaries, priests, and lay people responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in their dioceses (a total of more than 500 brothers and sisters), were invited by the international team responsible for the Way—Kiko Argüello, Father Mario Pezzi, and Ascensión Romero—to a meeting in the Holy Land. The invitation to the Holy Land had been confirmed by a letter