death, in 2016. Under the terms of the 2007 statute, the three members of this leadership team will remain in place for life, after which an electoral college of senior neocatechumenal catechists will elect a new team which, with the approval of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, will have a mandate to lead the Way for a period of seven years until new elections are held. The Neocatechumenal Way announced on 13 February 2018 that María Ascensión Romero had been chosen to join the leadership team."They contribute by forming the first neocatechumenal communities of a parish, and are supposed to maintain regular contact with the Bishops of the diocese in which they work; the itinerant teams preserve a constant link with the responsibles of the Neocatechumenal Way, visiting periodically the communities they catechized and taking care of the development of the Neocatechumenal Way in the territory assigned to them, being fully faithful to the charism given to the initiators and obedient to the local Ordinary." After two years in the Neocatechumenal Way, followers will be "invited" to attend the First Scrutiny. In this scrutiny, the followers come to contact with their cross (aka sufferings) and learn that their cross is redemptive. The Neocatechumenal Way scrutinies are public confessions that Neocatechumens must share with their communities. Four to six years after joining comes the Second Scrutiny,. In the Second Scrutiny, Neocatechumens reflect on the great phases of the history of salvation: Abraham, Exodus, Desert, Promised Land, etc., at the Second Scrutiny each person is "invited" to answer a questionnaire about their life for about an hour, so that they may prove the sincerity of their intention to follow the Neocatechumenal Way. Nature and mission of the Neocatechumenal communities The Neocatechumenal Way as it has been approved by the Holy See is a "Post baptismal catechumenate at the service of the Bishops as a form of diocesan implementation of Christian initiation and of ongoing education in faith, in accordance with the indications of the Second Vatican Council and the Magisterium of the Church”. From the initial catechesis, it typically takes several years and passing through stages of faith formation in the local communities, until a member reaches the "renewal of the baptismal vows." It is implemented in dioceses under the jurisdiction of the bishop and the guidance of the Responsible Team of the Way “according to the lines proposed by its