Comunidades eclesiais: as exigências da integração plural

The text reflects on the conditions in which ecclesial communities respond to the demands of a plural integration of those that present themselves as being Catholics, but whose degree of relationship with concrete ecclesial reality is varied. With this in mind, in the light of a Conciliar ecclesiological vision, certain criteria need to be received and made explicit at a deeper level, in theological terms, in ecclesial consciousness and in creative practical attitudes. In other words, it is a matter of refining the consciousness of the Catholicity of the Church, of concretising the sense of sacramentality of the same Church and of finding more suitable means of putting forward and affirming faith. In the final analysis, at issue is a profound pastoral renovation of Christian communities, on the basis of criteria for action and of pastoral structures more in tune with central aspects of the identity and mission of the Church.