Hans Küng to “Pope Francis”: “Re-open discussion on ‘Infallibility’”

The renegade Roman Catholic theologian Hans Küng has made an urgent appeal (urgent given that he is 88 years old) to his little buddy Bergoglio, a.k.a., “Pope Francis”, to “re-open the discussion on ‘Infallibility’”.

Küng notes, “I have spared no effort to collect the relevant texts, order them factually and chronologically according to the various phases of the altercation and elucidate them by putting them in a biographical context for Volume 5 of my complete works.” Much of what I took from this link was from Küng’s “Infallible? An Inquiry”.

“Receive this comprehensive documentation and allow a free, unprejudiced and open-ended discussion in our church of the all the unresolved and suppressed questions connected with the infallibility dogma. In this way, the problematic Vatican heritage of the past 150 years could be come to terms with honestly and adjusted in accordance with holy Scripture and ecumenical tradition. It is not a case of trivial relativism that undermines the ethical foundation of church and society. But it is also not about an unmerciful, mind-numbing dogmatism, which swears by the letter, prevents thorough renewal of the church’s life and teaching, and obstructs serious progress in ecumenism. It is certainly not the case of me personally wanting to be right. The well-being of the church and of ecumenism is at stake.

“I am very well aware of the fact that my appeal to you, who ‘lives among wolves,’ as a good Vatican connoisseur recently remarked, may possibly not be opportune. In your Christmas address of Dec. 21, 2015, however, confronted with curial ailments and even scandals, you confirmed your will for reform: ‘It seems necessary to state what has been — and ever shall be — the object of sincere reflection and decisive provisions. The reform will move forward with determination, clarity and firm resolve, since Ecclesia semper reformanda.’

“I would not like to raise the hopes of many in our church unrealistically. The question of infallibility cannot be solved overnight in our church. Fortunately, you (Pope Francis) are almost 10 years younger than I am and will hopefully survive me. You will, moreover, surely understand that as a theologian at the end of his days, buoyed by deep affection for you and your pastoral work, I wanted to convey this request to you in time for a free and serious discussion of infallibility that is well-substantiated in the volume at hand: non in destructionem, sed in aedificationem ecclesiae, ‘not in order to destroy but to build up the church.’ For me personally, this would be the fulfillment of a hope I have never given up.”

It will be interesting to see how he expands on what he has already written about “Papal Infallibility”. Küng says he is not writing to destroy, but if ever there was a need for destruction, it is here. Wrong-headed from the start, both “papal infallibility” and “the papacy” both need to be headed toward “the ash-heap of history”. If anyone can muddy the waters right now (further than they have been muddied), it will be “Pope Francis”.

I should note that much of what Küng says is for the purpose of admitting things that Reformed believers would never admit to. On the other hand, Küng is someone of whom Steve has said, “knows where all the bodies are buried”. And of course, “Pope Francis” and Hans Küng are not far apart in many respects. Note the respect that “Pope Francis” has for Küng’s former assistant, Walter Cardinal Kasper, who today has most recently been instigating for a “pastoral” way to re-admit divorced-and-remarried Roman Catholics to communion.

This instigation for a new discussion of “Papal ‘Infallibility’” should prove interesting to say the least.

Bergoglio’s Gig: Distancing Himself from the Old Nag

Sandro Magister reports that there is a new book out about the life of “Pope Emeritus” Joseph Ratzinger a.k.a. “Pope Benedict XVI”.

It wasn’t long ago that Hans Küng was suggesting he would be a “shadow pope”:

Old age

Hans Küng is contemplating suicide. He's 85. Going blind. Suffers from Parkinson's disease. 

He's been criticized, not only for the prospect of ending his own life, but for how others might follow his lead. 

I'd like to make a few observations: He's a Roman Catholic priest. A childless bachelor. To my knowledge, he never fathered children by a secret mistress. And even if he did, he clearly didn't raise them. 

So he doesn't have a loving wife or loving grown children to cushion the prospect. It's a terrifying prospect. Losing control. Going blind. Becoming incapacitated. Maybe losing his mind. I believe Parkinson's sometimes results in senile dementia. 

It's all the more terrifying when you face that alone. Oh, he has friends. But that's not the same thing. 

In addition, he was never a good priest. By that I mean, he was never the kind of selfless priest who ministers in obscurity to his parishioners. 

Instead, he was a theological showboater. Tried to be an influential player in Catholic theology. A trend-setter. A man on the world stage. 

But eventually, you become a has-been. If you live for your work, you will be inconsolable in old age when time passes you by.

In some ways his situation is unusual, but in other ways not. When I go for walks, I see lots of elderly widows with little dogs. I sometimes see an elderly widower with a little dog. It's both pitiful and understandable. 

But I also see lots of young couples walking dogs rather than kids. We're developing a subculture in which many young people have adopted an antinatalist philosophy. They look down on parents as "breeders." Their pets are their children. 

They will be very lonely in old age. 

In addition, we have smaller families than in the past. Even couples who do have children usually have just one or two. 

But in old age, that may not be enough. They may live out of state. They may be estranged. 

This is both an opportunity and a challenge for the church. And with the graying of the population, it will only increase. 

Killing Time with Good Pope Francis

Over at the Heidelblog, Sean Moore, a Reformed believer who had once studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood, commented:

The roman curia got some concession, [given that the new pope’s] father was an Italian immigrant to Argentina. There was no way the curia was gonna get their guy with Ratzinger still in the city and having copy of the dossier. He’s supposedly not as liberal as most Jesuits in Latin America (liberation theology) but he did modernize the perception of the church down there. He advocates for the poor and is very pointed in his criticisms of economic inequalities. He’s a half-measure with the demands of modernity.

The new pope is a “half-measure”. That’s a label that has some bite to it.

With the election of “Good Pope Francis”, it seems clear that the powers that be are merely biding their time, “killing time”, until they can figure out what comes next. They clearly don’t know. A vote like this one makes one think “the Church” wants to put the papacy on hold for a few years, while the Italians try to regroup.

Was reading Hans Küng a preventative, innoculating RC Seminarians from becoming sexual predators?

I know, correlation doesn’t mean causation. But I was surprised to find that explanation among these comments, ostensibly from priests, or at least, former Roman Catholic seminarians, in response to this recent article about Hans Küng:

Vincent of Valley Forge • 3 days ago
Hans Kung and certain other loyal critics of the modern papacy were on our favorite, unauthorized reading list "a few years back" at St Charles Seminary here in the Philadelphia area. Funny thing: none of us who secretly met and read Kung in St Charles were among those others who later became predators of children. [emphasis added] Yes, a few of us left the seminary or later, left the priesthood. But those of us who left became professionals, in one field or another, and some are still Catholic. Those of us who have stayed and been ordained (some of us go back decades to remember our secret reading of Kung at St Charles) try to be good pastors and give the sermons our people need. And we keep our heads down. We love being priests. We pray for the conversion of the Vatican [emphasis added].

Now with Archbishop Chaput we have more reason than ever to keep our heads down. He probably thinks we are being reverend. But the right word is cautious.

And this:

Passing the buck

Hans Küng on the pope's scandals.