On the 26th of August,1986, St. John Paul II enthusiastically welcomed the proposal of Kiko, Carmen and Father Mario to institute a Diocesan Missionary seminary in Rome for the formation of priests for the New Evangelization and commissioned Cardinal Ugo Poletti, Vicar of His Holiness, to erect it.
Since then, 122 seminars have been erected, which have 3 fundamental characteristics: they are diocesan, missionary and international. Within the academic, human and spiritual formation of these seminaries, there is a period of missionary evangelization, and once ordained priests – after a few years of working in parishes – the diocesan bishop may allow them to leave the diocese to serve in the various mission modalities carried out by the Neocatechumenal Way, according to what is established and approved by the Vatican in the Statutes.
The seminary is erected by the bishop of the diocese and welcomes young men who have discovered the vocation thanks to the neocatechumenal itinerary of Christian initiation. In the seminary, the Christian formation through the Neocatechumenal Way in a community is a distinct and basic element of the formation course.
In the years following, numerous bishops have followed the example of the Holy Father by opening other seminaries.
Since 1990, the year of the first ordinations, up until today, the priests ordained in these Redemptoris Mater seminaries are about 2,380. Currently, there are 2,300 young men that are preparing for the sacred ordination.