In his address cardinal Ouellet pointed out that "the faith experience and the missionary impulse of Christians are seriously undermined by different sociocultural events such as secularisation, religious pluralism, globalisation, the proliferation of mass media and their various effects, the widening gap between rich and poor, the spreading of esoteric doctrines, the threats to peace and the present attacks on human life and family." According to the cardinal, general speaker at the Synod which opened yesterday, "to these sociocultural phenomena we must add the Church internal difficulties in the transmission of the faith in the family, a defective catechetical formation, the tensions between the Ecclesial Ministry and the university’s theology, the internal crisis of exegesis and its link with theology and, more generally, a certain separation of Pastors from the simple people of Christian communities." These situations set forth the great challenge of the transmission of the faith through the Word of God today. In a pluralistic world, characterised by relativism and esotericism, the concept of Revelation needs to be clarified," explained cardinal Ouellet.
