CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION The nature and role of
religious education in schools has become the object of debate.
In some cases, it is now the object of new civil regulations,
which tend to replace religious education with teaching about
the religious phenomenon in a multi-denominational sense, or
about religious ethics and culture – even in a way that
contrasts with the choices and educational aims that parents and
the Church intend for the formation of young people. Therefore,
by means of this Circular Letter addressed to the Presidents of
Bishops’ Conferences, this Congregation for Catholic Education
deems it necessary to recall some principles that are rooted in
Church teaching, as clarification and instruction about the role
of schools in the Catholic formation of young people, about the
nature and identity of the Catholic school, about religious
education in schools, and about the freedom of choice of school
and confessional religious education. I. The role of schools in
the Catholic formation