Leading progressive theologian Hans Kueng has said the Catholic Church increasingly threatenes to deteriorate into a sect under Pope Benedict XVI, prompting protests from the Vatican.In an interview with German news agency DPA on Saturday, Feb 28, Hans Kueng defended earlier remarks to a French newspaper in which he said that Pope Benedict had lost a great deal of credibility and that the Catholic Church was floundering under him.
An emeritus professor of ecumenical theology at the University of Tuebingen in southern Germany, Kueng said he was "very sad" over the direction that the current church leadership was taking.
Kueng, whose authority to teach Catholic theology was rescinded by the Vatican over his criticism of papal authority, said he was still optimistic after meeting Pope Benedict XVI four years ago.
"I was hoping that he Pope Benedict would show himself as reforming, ecumenical and open for the future. But this hope has been bitterly disappointed," Swiss-born Kueng said.
Vatican rejects criticism
Benedict XVI, formerly cardinal Josef Ratzinger, strained relations with the Protestant churches because of his lack of willingness to engage in ecumenical dialogue. Neither did the pope's dialogue with Islam amount to more than lip service, Kueng said.
Furthermore, the German-born pope severely damaged relations with members of the Jewish faith by revoking the excommunication of Richard Williamson, a Holocaust-denying bishop of an arch-conservative Catholic group.
"Pope Benedict XVI seriously angered many faithful Catholics and suffered a severe loss of his credibility. This is sad," Kueng said.
The pope should state that the revoking Williamson's excommunication without conditions has not been justified, Kueng demanded.
Kueng's remarks have prompted fierce criticism by the Vatican.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals at the Vatican rejected Kueng's criticism, calling it "bitter" and "hurtful" and said it didn't promote the unity of the Church.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: DW)
Personally I think one of the main problems with the Catholic Church is that there is nothing modern or progressive or keeping with the times we are living in happening within the Church and especially the Vatican and the Pope.
ReplyDeleteThe Church is run from the top down by an entire bunch of OLD and ANCIENT men, most of whom their ideas went out a decade or more ago.
In most if not all walks of life people are required to retire at age 65. In the Church it is 10 years later 75. At that stage your mental faculties have got to be slowing down a bit after living a normal life and you are certainly one of the older generation not exactly thinking about what the young people in the congregations want or need. They are like their grandparents or great grandparents and there is a major age gap.
It is quite ridiculous for a Pope to be elected in his late 70's when by normal accounts in society he is ON HIS LAST LEGS!! It is a tough job he is meant to be active, tour overseas countries, work long hours running the worldwide Church but here we have an old and ANCIENT man who should be putting his feet up and being taken care of by a younger generation.
It is all wrong. A Pope should be elected at no older than 65 and SHOULD retire at 75 and let a younger man then take the reins.
As long as the doddery and not so doddery old men run the Church there is absolutely nothing in it to attract the young to the Church. Who wants their grandad or great grandad making rules for them when things were so different half a century ago when they were young.
Basically not just the Banks and the Government need a clean sweep out the Church needs it too.
Retire all these tired old jaded men who govern the young with an iron fist. Those men who tell families how to live their lives and they have never been a parent themselves to know what that means. You cannot learn it from a text book.
It was sad to see the Bishops saying the credit crunch may limit Catholic families having as many children. The Catholic Church seems to be totally obsessed with women being worth nothing more than producing as many offspring as they can to further swell Catholic Church members. That is why women in the church are seen to have no other role. If they were allowed to participate more maybe they would stop having all those extra Church members and get a life for themselves that would seriously challenge all the men in Church office so perhaps that is another thing they are afraid of?