II - Ecclesiastical Changes

All these changes of a socio-political and cultural nature are causing the Church or Churches to ask certain questions, and at the same time, they have shaken various "certainties" that had seemed until recently rather unchangeable. Such examples of this are the following:

Among the ordinary Christian faithful the crisis of values infiltrated into their lives through their "environment" or the world in which they live their lives. These have provoked a crisis of Faith, one that today is accentuated by an inadequate or even erroneous catechetical or faith formation, as well as by the scarcity of good and well formed spiritual guides who are prepared to confront or deal with the realities of this modern world. Among a number of theologians there is the legitimate conviction of the need to affirm the right and duty of engaging in research for the common good, for the values of true freedom, community, dialogue, reconciliation, solidarity, respect for the individual person and the cultural identity of peoples. These efforts have at times led to the emergence of new "theologies" which, if they have given on the one hand, a new and more ample breath to the understanding of our Faith, have, on the other hand, at times, provoked misunderstandings and even deviations from the true meaning of our beliefs and Faith, sometimes in and through intentional or non-intentional manipulation. And finally, the affirmations of the Magisterium of the Church, in regard to life, in regard to the nature and role of the Church in the world of today, the new understanding of the relationships existing in its own internal organization, have led to initiatives and/or restructurations of its own internal organization, that have at times been badly received or more or less ignored by many.