II. Handing on the Faith: Catechesis

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church

10
It is
therefore no surprise that catechesis in the Church has again attracted
attention in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which Pope Paul Vl
considered the great catechism of modern times. the General Catechetical
Directory (1971) the sessions of the Synod of Bishops devoted to evangelization
(1974) and catechesis (1977), the apostolic exhortations Evangelii nuntiandi
(1975) and Catechesi tradendae (1979), attest to this. the Extraordinary Synod
of Bishops in 1985 asked “that a catechism or compendium of all Catholic
doctrine regarding both faith and morals be composed”¹³ The Holy
Father, Pope John Paul II, made the Synod’s wish his own, acknowledging that
“this desire wholly corresponds to a real need of the universal Church and
of the particular Churches.”¹⁴ He set in motion everything needed
to carry out the Synod Fathers’ wish.