Francis today met with several thousand members of the Neocatechumenal Way, a community founded in Spain in the 1960s that seeks to train Catholic adults in their faith and is known for sending large families as missionaries around the world.
While appreciating the movement's religious zeal, bishops in Japan, the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia have accused the movement of wreaking chaos in their dioceses and have tried to limit its activities. The Vatican has also questioned its unusual liturgical practices.