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From Germany comes a call for Leo XIV to rehabilitate<\/strong> dissident Hans K\u00fcng. A theologian objects: it would undermine<\/strong> the magisterium.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The figure of Hans K\u00fcng<\/strong><\/mark> continues to spark controversy even after his death in 2021.<\/p>\n Recently reigniting the debate was the proposal by German theologian Wolfgang Beinert<\/strong> for a posthumous rehabilitation of what he calls a \u201cprophet of catholicity\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n K\u00fcng, he claims, was able to lucidly interpret the tensions between the Church and modernity, anticipating<\/strong> many issues now at the center of ecclesial debate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The initiative aims to achieve an official recognition<\/strong> of K\u00fcng\u2019s theological legitimacy within the Church, or at least some form of public reconciliation that would rehabilitate his image in the eyes of the Catholic faithful.<\/p>\n The idea is to reward the fact that the well-known theologian, despite harshly criticizing<\/strong> several official positions of the Church, never abandoned it and, indeed, continued to consider himself a Catholic theologian.<\/p>\n It is a surreal line of reasoning to want to reward the theological authority of an individual simply because his sociological belonging<\/strong> to the Church never ceased.<\/p>\n Stay updated by subscribing<\/strong> to our new channels:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moreover, K\u00fcng did not merely hold different “ideas” on certain details; he was a fierce advocate<\/strong> of the fallibility of the Pope, artificial contraception, unrestricted abortion, euthanasia as a Christian right, female celibacy, the validity of Anglican ordinations, and the abolition of priestly celibacy.<\/p>\n As early as 1979, the Vatican<\/strong> revoked his license to teach as a Catholic theologian, and his criticisms became even more severe.<\/p>\n His daily attacks on John Paul II<\/strong> dominated major media for decades, and this intensified with Benedict XVI<\/strong>, of whom he was a direct opponent. He accused him of having failed<\/strong> his pontificate, describing him as \u00abthe man who for decades has been chiefly responsible for the worldwide cover-up of abuses\u00bb<\/i>.<\/p>\n On various occasions, Hans K\u00fcng likened<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/u> Catholic bishops to Nazi generals<\/strong> and the Vatican to the Kremlin. It is no surprise that he became a champion of the magazine “<\/strong>MicroMega”<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n With the pontificate of Francis<\/strong>, the theologian advanced the theory that the Pope spoke out against abortion and the female priesthood \u00abunder pressure<\/strong>\u00bb<\/i> from the then-prefect Gerhard Ludwig M\u00fcller and even from the Pope emeritus, who was said to act as a shadow pope.<\/p>\n It is striking how these claims were voiced at the same time as those of traditionalists, according to whom Bergoglio was instead acting under pressure from the alleged “St. Gallen Mafia”<\/strong>. Every camp feeds on its own conspiracies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is no surprise that the proposal for the public rehabilitation of Hans K\u00fcng was immediately challenged by theologian Jan-Heiner T\u00fcck<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nThe posthumous rehabilitation of Hans K\u00fcng<\/h2>\n
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\nHans K\u00fcng, the radical dissenter<\/h2>\n
Proposal for rehabilitation rejected<\/h2>\n