Pope speaks to participants of the Conference Centre of Studies for the Catholic school

(September 25, 2008) "The Catholic school is an expression of the right of all citizens to freedom of education, and the corresponding duty of solidarity in building civil society", said Pope Benedict XVI. A Catholic school in its educational intent must have a mature awareness not only of the Church and its cultural project, but also of its civil expression, that should be regarded not as defence a partisan interest, but as a valuable contribution to building the common good of Italian society. The Pope was speaking at the conference on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of foundation of the Study Centre for Catholic school, established by the Italian Episcopate, as an expression of the accountability of bishops to the Catholic school, including the training of Christian inspiration, with the theme, “Beyond the emergency educational Catholic school in the service of young people." Then the Holy Father congratulated them for their valuable service to the Church and Italian society in the past decade, particularly, in their close monitoring on the situation of the Catholic schools in Italy, following with particular interest the events of equality and reform of schools in Italy, and their valuable contribution to building the common good of Italian society. In particular, the pope encouraged them to focus their commitment in the following areas, namely to improve the qualify of the teaching of the Catholic school, to give greater stress on Christian education, quality monitoring and collection data on Catholic schools, the launch of new research in educational, cultural and organizational areas, and the deepening of the culture of equality in respect of mutual responsibility and purpose.