On July 19, 2016, Carmen Hernández, initiator of the Wayalong with Kiko Argüello, died and was buried at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Madrid. As the international responsible team was thus left incomplete, and at the request of the Holy See, as indicated by the Statutes of the Way, Maria Ascension Romero, a missionary itinerant from Spain for 25 years in Russia, joined the team a year and a half later.
The Neocatechumenal Way is at the service of bishops and pastors as an itinerary of rediscovery of baptism and ongoing formation in the faith, and it is proposed to the faithful who wish to rekindle in their lives the richness of the Christian initiation.
The Way – whose itinerary is lived in the parishes, in small communities made up of people from different age and social groups – gradually leads the faithful to intimacy with Jesus Christ and transforms them into active members in the Church and credible witnesses of the Good News. It is an instrument for the Christian initiation of adults preparing to receive baptism.
Data of the Neocatechumenal Way
Updated July 2025:
Communities: 20,300
Diocese: 1,392
Parishes: 6,197
Nations: 139
Diocesan missionary seminaries:
Redemptoris Mater Seminaries: 116
Seminarians: 1,903 and 61 deacons
Presbyters formed in the RMS: 3,263
Missionary families:
Families in mission: 936 evangelizing in 209 Missio ad Gentes in 68 nations.
Strengthening and sustaining the Way of faith: 738 in various nations.
Families in Itinerant Teams: 300