With his 88th birthday looming, the renowned Catholic theologian Hans Küng appeals to Pope Francis to remove what he sees as a serious roadblock to theology.
The fifth volume of Küng’s complete works, titled Infallibility, is to be released soon by the German publishing house Herder. Küng has written an “urgent appeal to Pope Francis to permit an open and impartial discussion on infallibility of pope and bishops.”
“… 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.”
For Hans Küng’s complete NCR article, click here.