In a dramatic gesture of reconciliation, Pope Benedict XVI met Sept. 24 with his former colleague and longtime nemesis, Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Küng, a fiery liberal who once compared then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with the head of the KGB in his capacity as the Vatican’s top doctrinal enforcer.
In 1979, Küng’s license to teach Catholic theology was revoked by Pope John Paul II, a decision in which Ratzinger played a role as a member of the German bishops’ conference. In the years since, Küng has been a leading critic of both many of the doctrinal positions espoused by Ratzinger, and the investigatory procedures by which they are enforced.
While the two men agreed to disagree on doctrinal matters, the pope offered warm praise for Küng’s efforts to foster dialogue among religions and with the natural sciences, while Küng expressed support for the pope’s commitment along the same lines.
A Sept. 26 statement from the Vatican did not say who had requested the meeting, but said that it took place in a "friendly climate" and that Benedict XVI offered special support for Küng’s efforts to build a Weltethos, or a moral framework based on values shared among religions which can also be recognized by secular reason.
Why awesome? Because it’s a model for how all of us should be with each other. It’s a model of pastoral fatherhood. Impressive.
An interview with Kung (via Rocco)
We met only once after the big clash (of) 1979 and 1980, we met in Bavaria in 1983," Kueng said. He said that meeting was "a rather tense situation."
"Now I got the impression that he was the same person I knew from the happy Tuebingen years," he said.
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