Posted on 09/21/2011 9:53:04 AM PDT by Cardhu
Pope Benedict XVI. "The Church is sick, and it's the sickness of the Roman system," says theologian Hans Küng.
SPIEGEL: Professor Küng, your former faculty colleague Joseph Ratzinger is coming to Germany this week for a state visit. Do you have an audience scheduled with him?
Küng: I didn't request an audience. I am fundamentally more interested in conversations than audiences.
SPIEGEL: Does Benedict XVI even talk to you anymore?
Küng: After his election to be pope, he invited me to his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, where we had a four-hour friendly conversation. At the time, I hoped it would mark the beginning of a new era of openness. But that hope has not been fulfilled. We correspond with each other once in a while. The sanctions against me -- the withdrawal of my permission to teach -- still exist. (Ed's note: The Vatican revoked Küng's permission to teach Catholic theology in 1979 after he publicly rejected the dogma of papal infallibility.)
SPIEGEL: When was the last time Benedict wrote to you?
Küng: Through his private secretary (Georg) Gänswein, he thanked me for sending him my latest book and sent me his best wishes.
SPIEGEL: In your polemic book "Ist die Kirche noch zu retten?" ("Can the Church Still Be Saved?"), which was published earlier this year, you harshly criticized the pope for his anti-reformist policy.
Küng: I find it very gratifying that he hasn't ended the personal relationship despite my criticism.
SPIEGEL: Many Catholics feel that the Church is in a rather desolate state. The cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by priests has driven believers away from the Church in droves. What's going wrong?
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
"Küng: In my view, the Catholic Church as a community of faith will be preserved, but only if it abandons the Roman system of rule. We managed to get by without this absolutist system for 1,000 years. The problems began in the 11th century, when the popes asserted their claim to absolute control over the Church, by applying a form of clericalism that deprived the laity of all power. The celibacy rule also stems from that era."
Hans doesn’t even believe that Christ is the Son of God or part of the Trinity so what he has to say is about as important to Christians as listening to the little Jerk in Iran about Jews.
Your attitude toward the old heretic is exceptionally kind.
Küng is at the heart of why the Church has lost millions of followers. Fortunately, the younger generation has rejected his heresy.
Hans Kung? Oh no! ... Oh, herro! Great to see you again, Hans!
Another view:
A Religion the New York Times Can Love | Donna Steichen
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/print2005/cwr_kung_aug05.html
An excerpt:
“Also at Santa Clara University, Küng spoke in favor of married priests, women priests, and intercommunion. Elsewhere, his writing reveals far more radical deviations from the essentials of the Creed, the authenticity of John’s Gospel, the pre-existence of Jesus, even the doctrine of the Trinity (see, e.g. Christianity: Essence, History and Future, [Continuum, 1995], Credo: The Apostles’ Creed Explained for Today [Doubleday, 1994], My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs [Eerdmans, 2003], and Küng’s foreword to Born Before All Time? The Dispute over Christ’s Origin [Crossroad, 1993]). Küng’s ecumenism is apparently aimed toward a synthesis of the three “prophetic” monotheistic religious systems: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”
Kung...Is that old liverspot still alive and p*ssing on the Church? Oh, well. They say the good die young. With our luck, he will live to 1000.
Kung is quite misinformed and holds the increasingly modern Western interpretation of all things Catholic that are individualistic, protestant and quite at odds with Catholics who abhor the Westernization of the American Church, and of both priests and laity. Frankly, many Catholics remain quite willing to endure the ongoing mischief making to the end. Our own end. God forbid we place personal and individual interpretation over every jot and tittle of all three pillars of the Church. A “see ya’” moment to the mischief makers who ignore their own responsibility for seeking an informed conscience. “Self” is the enemy here.
Isn't today national "Be Kind to Elderly Heretic Scum" Day?
When Benedict speaks to open and public sinners, it is not because of his desire for openness. It is because of his desire for their conversion.
Yes! I was going to comment too!! Ditto!! Amen! He cares about that man’s soul.
The tagline
The only thing I’d be interested in hearing, regarding Mr. Küng is that he’s gone to Confession, and repents. Otherwise, nope. I hope and pray that sometime, before it’s too late, he recants.
Okay, I’m amused at the thought of Pope Benedict going hunting bare-chested.
Why bother reading any article posted by a Mormon? All that he posts is anything dredged from the cesspits of the ‘net.
Get real, we Christians are not going to become like your Mormon ideals
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