Pope Benedict XVI said modern education is threatened by exaggerated rationalism on one hand and religious fundamentalism on the other.In order to fight against this "educational crisis," church-run schools and universities should propose a distinctly Christian perspective, even as they welcome cultural and religious diversity, the pope said.
He made the comments Jan. 21 to members of the Congregation for Catholic Education meeting at the Vatican.
The pope said the world today faces a double challenge: a rationalism "falsely liberated and unchained from every religious reference," and "fundamentalisms that falsify the true essence of religion with their incitement to violence and fanaticism."
Cultural pluralism raises new questions in education, he said. Clearly, a school cannot exclude anyone because of his or her cultural or religious identity, he said.
But it's not enough simply to recognize such diversity, he said. The important thing is for people of differing cultural or religious backgrounds to speak to each other and understand each other.
And although the Catholic school is open to everyone and respects the cultural identity of each person, "it cannot fail to propose its own distinct educative, human and Christian perspective," he said.
Noting that the education congregation was considering an update of the "Norms for Priestly Formation," the pope said priests today need particular preparation in order to dialogue with contemporary culture.
"The human and cultural formation therefore should be significantly strengthened and supported even with the help of modern sciences, because some destabilizing social factors today -- for example, the situation of so many separated families, the educational crisis, widespread violence, etc. -- are making new generations fragile," he said.
In an address to the pope, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, head of the education congregation, said the updating of the priestly formation norms could also include the new possibilities offered by the Internet.
Cardinal Grocholewski also said the congregation still intended to offer guidelines on possible contributions of psychological sciences in seminary admission and formation. The congregation has been working on that document for several years; the cardinal did not say when it would be finished.
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