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Hans Küng

Swiss Catholic priest, theologian and author (1928-2021)

Hans Küng (19 March 1928 – 6 April 2021) was a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. After he rejected the doctrine of papal infallibility, the Vatican rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology. He had to leave the Catholic faculty, but remained at the University of Tübingen as a professor of ecumenical theology, serving as an emeritus professor since 1996. Although Küng was not officially allowed to teach Catholic theology, neither his bishop nor the Holy See revoked his priestly faculties.

Everyone agrees the celibacy rule is just a Church law dating from the 11th century, not a divine command.

Quotes

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There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.
 
The Pope would have an easier job than the President of the United States in adopting a change of course.
  • If you cannot see that divinity includes male and female characteristics and at the same time transcends them, you have bad consequences. Rome and Cardinal O'Connor base the exclusion of women priests on the idea that God is the Father and Jesus is His Son, there were only male disciples, etc. They are defending a patriarchal Church with a patriarchal God. We must fight the patriarchal misunderstanding of God.
  • Everyone agrees the celibacy rule is just a Church law dating from the 11th century, not a divine command.
    • Newsweek interview (8 July 1991)
  • There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.
    • Address at the opening of the Exhibit on the World's Religions at Santa Clara University (31 March 2005)
    • Elaborations and extensions of this declaration occur in Küng's later writings, including:
There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions. There will be no dialogue among the religions without global ethical standards. There will therefore be no survival of this globe without a global ethic.
  • "Conclusion: No Clash, But Dialogue Among Religions and Nations", the concluding essay in Justice and Violence: Political Violence, Pacifism and Cultural Transformation (2003), edited by Alan Eikelmann, Eric Nelson and Tom Lansford
  • Joseph Ratzinger has stood still because as a Bavarian Catholic in the Hellenistic tradition, interpreted in Roman terms, he wanted to stand still. To this degree he represented and represents a different basic model of theology and church, as different from mine as in astronomy Ptolemy's geocentric picture of the world is different from Copernicus' heliocentric picture.
    • Disputed Truth: Memoirs Volume 2 (2008), p. 329
  • The same church must, in my opinion, also respect that the one whose name is absent from the same declaration out of embarrassment, although he and he alone led Muslims to pray to this one God, so that once again through him, Muhammad, the prophet, this God "has spoken to mankind".
    • World Religions 129
  • The Pope would have an easier job than the President of the United States in adopting a change of course. He has no Congress alongside him as a legislative body nor a Supreme Court as a judiciary. He is absolute head of government, legislator and supreme judge in the church. If he wanted to, he could authorize contraception over night, permit the marriage of priests, make possible the ordination of women and allow eucharistic fellowship with this Protestant churches. What would a Pope do who acted in the spirit of Obama?
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