One of the Catholic Church’s most senior theologians, and former mentor to Pope Benedict XVI, has launched a stinging attack on the Vatican. Father Hans Küng, 80, a Swiss priest and professor at Tübingen university said it was a “tragedy” for the Catholic Church that Rome had failed to follow the path of liberalisation set out by the Vatican II council in 1965.
In his autobiography, My Fight for Freedom, Fr Küng said he was responsible for Benedict XVI’s appointment as a professor at Tübingen 1966 when he was dean of the Catholic theology faculty.
Unusually, Father Küng put forward no other candidates for the post.
“I called only the strongest colleague, not any mediocre ones. Mediocre professors appoint mediocre colleagues; strong professors call strong colleagues,” he said, adding that their three-year relationship had been fruitful.
However, Fr Küng fell out with the Vatican and his former colleague in 1979 when he was stripped of the right to teach theology by Rome after criticising the doctrine of papal infallibility.
The bitter row continued after Benedict’s election as pope in 2005, when Fr Küng said he was “bitterly disappointed”. However, he was unexpectedly called to dinner with the pope shortly afterwards and the two men appeared to have reconciled, with Fr Küng publicly stating his hope in the new regime.
In an interview with La Repubblica, however, he said: “Rome continues to block every sort of renewal, and is blocking any ecumenical unification with the protestant and orthodox churches. This pope has made serious mistakes.”
He softened his attack, however, by adding that he hoped Benedict would carry out “other courageous acts” to reverse the situation.
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