E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.1 page 15 State schools. The representatives explained article 199 of the Buenos Aires provincial constitution relating to education in State schools in accordance with Christian moral principles as being a special situation linked to the ongoing support given by the State to the Catholic Church. The Church representatives regretted that legislation permitting the teaching of Catholicism outside class schedules was not implemented. 70. Catholic Church representatives provided information on developments in the context of the 1994 constitutional reform relating to Catholicism (abrogation of earlier constitutional provisions, such as the requirement for the President and Vice-President to be Catholic, on presidential oversight of the appointment of bishops and on presidential decision-making authority relating to Catholic Church bulls). 71. They reported the following difficulties faced by the Catholic Church: (a) Too few members of the clergy, namely, 6,000 male and 12,000 female members of religious orders, to service the majority of the population; (b) Inadequate financial resources in comparison with the needs of the members of the Church and Catholic bodies working in the economic, social and educational spheres (for example, lack of public subsidies for private Catholic universities, a complaint echoed by other communities); (c) A decline in religious observance, notwithstanding major pilgrimages involving at least one million Church members. 72. Catholic representatives also deplored the generally inadequate influence of the Catholic Church on public institutions. They cited the example of educational institutions’ falling more and more under the influence of non-religious academic staff and the effect on the education of pupils. 73. Concerning relations with other religious communities, Catholic representatives stated that ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox churches were satisfactory, although there was the risk of problems vis-à-vis more recent communities. They provided information on relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish and Muslim communities, in which connection much remained to be done. 74. A representative of the Catholic SPES Foundation, dealing with sects, said that the role of his organization was not to question the beliefs of sects, but to take action with regard to illegal practices. Groups were classified as sects on the basis of their practices, such as misleading proselytizing and deviant thinking. The foundation identified groups (for example, Children of God/the Family, Umbanda, Gates of Heaven, Moon, Scientology, various Adventist, evangelical and satanic groups) and sectors at risk, and also assisted victims (some 4,500 cases, mostly minors). The representative reported an occurrence, in March 2000 in Buenos Aires, of cannibalism practised by two women, 21-year-old Silvina and 29-year-old Gabriela, on their father, Jean Carols Vázquez, in a satanic ritual performed by a group known as the Alchemy Center for Transmutation.