Italy’s Catholic bishops are promoting a new Islamic education program that describes the Koran as the “revealed Word of God,” while Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has said Catholic religion classes should be treated as a “laboratory of culture and dialogue.”
On October 21, Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), presented the new educational initiative, “Factsheets for Understanding Islam,” at an event in the Palazzo Borromeo – the seat of the Italian Embassy to the Holy See in Rome. Promoted jointly by the CEI, the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, and the Italian diplomatic mission, the program is designed for teachers of Catholic religion classes in state schools.
Reflecting on his years as a religion teacher, Zuppi stated: “The only thing that was clear was that there was no need to teach catechism.” For this reason, according to him, Catholic religious education classes in schools should be conceived as a mere “laboratory of culture and dialogue.”
“The eleven sheets go beyond the usual clichés. They begin with ‘What Is Islam?’ and ‘A Brief History of Islam,’ then go on to address faith and theology [and] the Qur’an as the revealed Word of God,” Vatican News reported.
Created by a joint team of Catholic and Muslim experts who negotiated over differences to produce a single, mutually agreed text, the 11-module curriculum presents Islamic doctrine, including describing the Koran as the “revealed word of God,” under the pretext of eradicating “ignorance” and fostering social cohesion.
“I would send everyone to school, because there is remarkable ignorance [about Islam]…. The sheets represent the exact opposite of the clash of civilizations,” Zuppi added. He also praised the joint Catholic-Muslim text as a great “antidote to violence and ignorance,” while warning that news headlines critical of Islamic proliferation are “dangerous with islamophobia.”
The curriculum consists of 11 modules covering topics including “What is Islam?” “A Brief History of Islam,” Islamic theology, “following the example of the Prophet,” the Islamic concept of worship (‘ibāda), the Islamic concept of religious community (Ummah), Islamic spirituality, and interreligious dialogue.
Prominent Islamic organizations collaborated in drafting and reviewing the materials, including the Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy (UCOII), the Italian Islamic Religious Community, the Italian Islamic Confederation, and the Tevere Institute. During the presentation at Palazzo Borromeo, UCOII President Yassine Baradai cited his own experiences in his youth at a Catholic parish center as a “sign of openness which allowed him to better understand himself” as Muslim.
Father Alberto Gastaldi, director of the CEI National Office for Education, School, and University, defended the initiative by describing interreligious dialogue as “the very hallmark of Catholic educational commitment” and hailing the classroom as “the first true laboratory of dialogue.”
“In a school classroom, learning about Islam through reliable and respectful resources does not mean abandoning one’s own identity. Rather, it means practicing that integral humanism which knows how to make room for the other.… Interreligious dialogue is not an occasional concession,” Gastaldi declared.