Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), presented on Wednesday, October 21, the «Cards to Learn about Islam,» a collection of eleven documents prepared jointly by Catholic and Muslim specialists for use in schools, especially in Catholic Religious Education classes. The initiative has drawn criticism over the content of the materials and the role other religions should play in a confessional subject.
The event took place at the Palazzo Borromeo, headquarters of the Italian Embassy to the Holy See, and was organized by the embassy itself, the CEI, and the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI). Representatives from various Islamic organizations in Italy participated, along with leaders from the ecclesiastical bodies involved in the project.
Eleven cards drafted jointly by Christians and Muslims
The collection published by the CEI and the PISAI covers the history of Islam, its beliefs, the Qur’an, the figure of Muhammad, religious practices, the Muslim community, and Islamic spirituality. It also includes a section on the convergences and divergences between Christianity and Islam, another dedicated to the Muslim presence in Italy, and a final one on interreligious dialogue.
The materials were prepared by a team made up of representatives from both religions. During the presentation, Fr. Valentino Cottini, former dean of the PISAI, explained that the working group was composed equally of Christians and Muslims, who discussed their differences until reaching a shared text.
The initiative has involved three bodies of the Italian Episcopal Conference: the National Office for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue, the National Office for Education, Schools, and Universities, and the National Service for Catholic Religious Education, in addition to the PISAI.
The cards are not new. They were first presented on November 10, 2025, at the PISAI and have since been available in Italian and English. The CEI has also made them available to authors of Catholic Religious Education textbooks and those responsible for teacher training.
The project represents a second stage of an initiative that had already produced similar materials on Judaism.
Zuppi: «The future is dialogue»
During his speech, Zuppi defended the need to know Islam in order to overcome prejudices and promote coexistence. The president of the CEI stated that in Italy there is «a notable ignorance» about this religion and maintained that the work carried out by Christians and Muslims allows for shared knowledge.
For the cardinal, the cards represent «the exact opposite of the clash of civilizations.» He also criticized certain press headlines, which he described as «dangerous, dangerous for Islamophobia.»
«The future is dialogue,» Zuppi affirmed, adding that knowing other religions does not mean renouncing Italy’s Christian roots, but rather can help to understand them better.
The Archbishop of Bologna also recalled his experience as a Catholic Religious Education teacher and noted that one of the guidelines he received at the time was that the subject should not become catechesis. In this regard, he referred to a recent CEI note that presents religious education as a space for culture and dialogue.
The cardinal linked the publication of these materials to the spirit of the interreligious meeting in Assisi convened by John Paul II in 1986, whose fortieth anniversary is being commemorated this year. He also called for an unequivocal condemnation of violence accompanied by an educational proposal.
The meeting was addressed by the Italian Ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto; the Auxiliary Bishop of Naples, Gaetano Castello; and the Dean of the PISAI, Wasim Salman. Representatives from the Union of Islamic Communities of Italy (UCOII), the Italian Islamic Religious Community (CoReIs), the Italian Islamic Confederation, and the Tevere Institute also participated.
Criticism of the content of the cards and the identity of Catholic education
The presentation of the cards has provoked criticism over the approach of their contents and, especially, their intended audience: Catholic Religious Education classes. The issue is not so much that students learn about other religions, which is already part of religious education, but rather the place that the Catholic faith occupies when materials intended for its teachers are prepared through a text agreed upon with representatives of another confession.
Riccardo Cascioli, director of La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, has questioned the image of Islam presented in the documents, which he considers overly favorable and insufficiently attentive to realities such as religious fundamentalism and the situation of Christians in numerous Muslim-majority countries. He has also warned of the risk that Catholic Religious Education could end up becoming a general course on different religions, gradually losing its own character.
In Italy, Catholic Religious Education in public schools is regulated by agreements between the State and the Church. Its content is not limited to catechesis, but neither is it identified with a comparative religion subject: it retains an identity linked to knowledge of Catholic doctrine and tradition. Hence the objections to the procedure chosen to prepare these materials and to the criteria used to reach a shared text between Christians and Muslims.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò also criticized the initiative on the social network X. «Zuppi’s Church no longer evangelizes. It apologizes for existing. It asks permission,» he wrote, contrasting the presentation of the cards on Islam with the situation of Italian parishes and the decline in religious participation.
This is not the first time that Zuppi’s gestures of rapprochement with Islam have sparked controversy. In March, the president of the CEI participated in an iftar dinner in Bologna, while also expressing concern about the lack of children enrolled in catechesis in several parishes in the city center.