Why did Bismarck exclude religious teachers from state schools during the Kulturkampf?

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Photograph of Pope Pius IX — Pius IX Pius IX is the longest-reigning pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. His pontificate lasted from 1846 to 1878.

During the Kulturkampf, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck excluded religious teachers from state schools as part of a broader effort to subject the Roman Catholic Church to state control.12

Bismarck, a staunch Protestant, distrusted the loyalty of Roman Catholics within the newly formed German Empire, particularly following the First Vatican Council’s 1870 proclamation of papal infallibility under Pius IX. Because the Catholic Centre Party often opposed his policies, Bismarck sought to diminish the church's influence over public life. By removing religious teachers and asserting the state's absolute right to supervise schools, Bismarck aimed to ensure that education served the interests of the state rather than the ecclesiastical authority of the Vatican.123