Now if Kung were an parishioner refusing to pay the church tax he might not have been dealt with so kindly.
Kung is like the priest/U.S. congressman Robert Drinan who worked so hard in support of abortion. He'll be criticized but not too harshly.
>> And did not Ratzinger endorse Kung’s book written years earlier on papal infallibility? <<
Uh, no. In fact, that book is how Kung lost his sacred liscentiate.
>> As John Allen reported for NCR back in 2005 when Kung and Benedict met, they met as warm friends <<
Kung landed Ratzinger his first teaching position; there was much mutual respect based on their personal histories. Implying from this an acceptance of Kung’s theology is simply absurd.
>> Now if Kung were an parishioner refusing to pay the church tax he might not have been dealt with so kindly. <<
Kung is such a person.
>> Kung is like the priest/U.S. congressman Robert Drinan who worked so hard in support of abortion. He’ll be criticized but not too harshly. <<
The American Catholic church in the days of Drinan was in a state of all-but-official schism, from top to bottom. The team of John Paul II and Benedict XVI has through attrition removed from the American episcopacy ALL the liberals. In 1978, you couldn’t find a Catholic bishop who would public agree with Humanae Vita (the papal encyclical opposing artificial contraception and defending the Church’s stance against abortion). In 2012, you will not find one who will publicly criticize it. (There are still some lingering bishops who’d probably curse it under their breaths, but they are fewer, and their retirements looming soon.)
I guess that undermines Kung's criticisms, then. We're not like the Nazis after all. Good point.
Thanks for clearing that up.