European priest paid me to leave religious education (5)
I believe the answer is:
padre
'european priest' is the definition.
'Padre' can be an answer for 'priest' (Padre is an example). I'm not certain of the 'european' bit.
'paid me to leave religious education' is the wordplay.
'me' becomes 'I'.
'to leave' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'religious education' becomes 'RE' (abbreviation).
'paid' with 'i' taken out is 'pad'.
'pad'+'re'='PADRE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for padre that I've seen before include "Military chaplain" , "clerical worker" , "Man of god - drape (anag)" , "Army serviceman?" , "Priest, chaplain" .)