“Education for Citizenship” disfigures truth about man, says Spanish cardinal

Madrid, Spain, Feb 8, 2007 / 10:02 am

In comments this week about a controversial school course which the Spanish government wants mandated throughout the country, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Toledo said, “Education for Citizenship is terribly bad, not only because of its content, but also because it disfigures the truth about man.”

Speaking during a special Mass for teachers, Cardinal Cañizares said, “We are in a crucial moment of cultural changes that are affecting educational institutions.”  “Education for Citizenship is terribly bad, not only because of its content, but also because it disfigures the truth about man.  Therefore we cannot accept it, because it distorts the truth about man.”

“Day in and day out you are at our schools to teach, and therefore, you need to encounter Jesus, to learn from him, the true Master, and from his infinite love for mankind, especially for the needy,” he told the teachers.

Offering an allusion to the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Cardinal said that like the poor man on the road, “young people today are also robbed; they are robbed of their hearts and are filled with ideology and pseudo-culture.”

He called on teachers to work together in the Church’s mission to provide education and to embrace a deeper sense of ecclesial communion.  “The bishops have said many things about diverse aspects of the educational legislation and some sectors of the Church have not paid attention,” the cardinal said.  “How much the enemies of the mankind they take advantage of our rifts in order to foster division,” he stated.