Can. 793 ß1 Parents, and those who take their place, have both the obligation and the
right to educate their children. Catholic parents have also the duty and the right to
choose those means and institutes which, in their local circumstances, can best promote
the catholic education of their children.
ß2 Parents have moreover the right to avail themselves of that assistance from civil
society which they need to provide a catholic education for their children.
Can. 794 ß1 The Church has in a special way the duty and the right of educating, for
it has a divine mission of helping all to arrive at the fullness of Christian life.
ß2 Pastors of souls have the duty of making all possible arrangements so that all the
faithful may avail themselves of a catholic education.
Can. 795 Education must pay regard to the formation of the whole person, so that all
may attain their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of society.
Children and young persons are therefore to be cared for in such a way that their
physical, moral and intellectual talents may develop in a harmonious manner, so that they
may attain a greater sense of responsibility and a right use of freedom, and be formed to
take an active part in social life.
Can. 796 ß1 Among the means of advancing education, Christ's faithful are to consider
schools as of great importance, since they are the principal means of helping parents to
fulfill their role in education.
ß2 There must be the closest cooperation between parents and the teachers to whom they
entrust their children to be educated. In fulfilling their task, teachers are to
collaborate closely with the parents and willingly listen to them; associations and
meetings of parents are to be set up and held in high esteem.
Can. 797 Parents must have a real freedom in their choice of schools. For this reason
Christ's faithful must be watchful that the civil society acknowledges this freedom of
parents and, in accordance with the requirements of distributive justice, even provides
them with assistance.
Can. 798 Parents are to send their children to those schools which will provide for
their catholic education. If they cannot do this, they are bound to ensure the proper
catholic education of their children outside the school.
Can. 799 Christ's faithful are to strive to secure that in the civil society the laws
which regulate the formation of the young, also provide a religious and moral education in
the schools that is in accord with the conscience of the parents.
Can. 800 ß1 The Church has the right to establish and to direct schools for any field
of study or of any kind and grade.
ß2 Christ's faithful are to promote catholic schools, doing everything possible to
help in establishing and maintaining them.
Can. 801 Religious institutes which have education as their mission are to keep
faithfully to this mission and earnestly strive to devote themselves to catholic
education, providing this also through their own schools which, with the consent of the
diocesan Bishop, they have established.
Can. 802 ß1 If there are no schools in which an education is provided that is imbued
with a Christian spirit, the diocesan Bishop has the responsibility of ensuring that such
schools are established.
ß2 Where it is suitable, the diocesan Bishop is to provide for the establishment of
professional and technical schools, and of other schools catering for special needs.
Can. 803 ß1 A catholic school is understood to be one which is under the control of
the competent ecclesiastical authority or of a public ecclesiastical juridical person, or
one which in a written document is acknowledged as catholic by the ecclesiastical
authority.
ß2 Formation and education in a catholic school must be based on the principles of
catholic doctrine, and the teachers must be outstanding in true doctrine and uprightness
of life.
ß3 No school, even if it is in fact catholic, may bear the title 'catholic school'
except by the consent of the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Can. 804 ß1 The formation and education in the catholic religion provided in any
school, and through various means of social communication is subject to the authority of
the Church. It is for the Episcopal Conference to issue general norms concerning this
field of activity and for the diocesan Bishop to regulate and watch over it.
ß2 The local Ordinary is to be careful that those who are appointed as teachers of
religion in schools, even non-Catholic ones, are outstanding in true doctrine, in the
witness of their Christian life, and in their teaching ability.
Can. 805 In his own diocese, the local Ordinary has the right to appoint or to approve
teachers of religion and, if religious or moral considerations require it, the right to
remove them or to demand that they be removed.
Can. 806 ß1 The diocesan Bishop has the right to watch over and inspect the catholic
schools situated in his territory, even those established or directed by members of
religious institutes. He has also the right to issue directives concerning the general
regulation of catholic schools these directives apply also to schools conducted by members
of a religious institute, although they retain their autonomy in the internal management
of their schools.
ß2 Those who are in charge of catholic schools are to ensure, under the supervision of
the local Ordinary, that the formation given in them is, in its academic standards, at
least as outstanding as that in other schools in the area.
Can. 807 The Church has the right to establish and to govern universi-ties, which serve
to promote the deeper culture and fuller development of the human person, and to
complement the Church's own teaching office.
Can. 808 No university, even if it is in fact catholic, may bear the title 'catholic
university' except by the consent of the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Can. 809 If it is possible and appropriate, Episcopal Conferences are to take care to
have within their territories suitably located universities or at least faculties, in
which the various disciplines, while retaining their own scientific autonomy, may be
researched and taught in the light of catholic doctrine.
Can. 810 ß1 In catholic universities it is the duty of the competent statutory
authority to ensure that there be appointed teachers who are not only qualified in
scientific and pedagogical expertise, but are also outstanding in their integrity of
doctrine and uprightness of life. If these requirements are found to be lacking, it is
also that authority's duty to see to it that these teachers are removed from office, in
accordance with the procedure determined in the statutes.
ß2 The Episcopal Conference and the diocesan Bishops concerned have the duty and the
right of seeing to it that, in these universities, the principles of catholic doctrine are
faithfully observed.
Can. 811 ß1 The competent ecclesiastical authority is to ensure that in catholic
universities there is established a faculty or an institute or at least a chair of
theology, in which lectures are given to lay students also.
ß2 In every catholic university there are to be lectures which principally treat of
those theological questions connected with the studies of each faculty.
Can. 812 Those who teach theological subjects in any institute of higher studies must
have a mandate from the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Can. 813 The diocesan Bishop is to be zealous in his pastoral care of students, even by
the creation of a special parish, or at least by appointing priests with a stable
assignment to this care. In all universities, even in those which are not catholic, the
diocesan Bishop is to provide catholic university centers, to be of assistance to the
young people, especially in spiritual matters.
Can. 814 The provisions which are laid down for universities apply equally to other
institutes of higher studies.
Can. 815 By virtue of its office to announce revealed truth, it belongs to the Church
to have its own ecclesiastical universities and faculties to study the sacred sciences and
subjects related to them, and to teach these disciplines to students in a scientific
manner.
Can. 816 ß1 Ecclesiastical universities and faculties may be constituted only by the
Apostolic See or with its approval. Their overall direction also belongs to the Apostolic
See.
ß2 Each ecclesiastical university and faculty must have its own statutes and program
of studies, approved by the Apostolic See.
Can. 817 Only a university or a faculty established or approved by the Apostolic See
may confer academic degrees which have canonical effects in the Church.
Can. 818 The provisions of canon 810,812 and 813 concerning catholic universities apply
also to ecclesiastical universities and faculties.
Can. 819 In so far as the good of a diocese or religious institute or indeed even of
the universal Church requires it, young persons, clerics and members of institutes,
outstanding in character, intelligence and virtue, must be sent to ecclesiastical
universities or faculties by their diocesan Bishops or the Superiors of their institutes.
Can. 820 Moderators and professors of ecclesiastical universities and faculties are to
ensure that the various faculties of the university cooperate with each other, to the
extent that their aims permit. They are also to ensure that between their own university
or faculty and other universities and faculties, even non‚ecclesiastical ones, there be a
mutual cooperation in which, through conferences, coordinated scientific research and
other means, they work together for the greater increase of scientific knowledge.
Can. 821 Where it is possible, the Episcopal Conference and the diocesan Bishop are to
provide for the establishment of institutes for higher religious studies, in which are
taught theological and other subjects pertaining to Christian culture.