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We are profoundly concerned over the increase and mutation of the phenomenon of sects. In fact, the sects of various origins seem to offer an experience of God's closeness to a person's life and promise an illusory happiness through the Bible, often interpreted in a fundamentalist way.

We propose:

-- Through a vital correct hermeneutic of the biblical pages, to intensify pastoral activity to provide the food of the Word to the faithful seeking it;

-- To learn from the rich experience of the first centuries of the Church, which, however, knew similar phenomena (cf. 1 John 2:19; 4:2-3);

-- To know better the peculiar characteristics, the causes and promoters of the sects exactly as they present themselves today;

-- To help the faithful to distinguish well the Word of God from private revelations;

-- To stimulate groups that share and meditate in order to counteract the attraction of the sects and fundamentalism.

It is necessary that priests are adequately prepared to address this new situation, making them capable of proposing a biblical animation of pastoral care, adapted to the problems that people face today.

We ask the Holy See to study, in collaboration with the episcopal conferences and the competent structures of the Catholic Eastern Churches, the phenomenon of the sects in its global scope and also in its local repercussions.