Friday, October 07, 2005
EMAIL FROM LEE PENN
On 9/24, B16 met with Hans Kung, the dissident theologian who supports the United Religions Initiative and the creation of a new "global ethic." They did not discuss the long-standing theological differences between the two of them -- such as on papal infallibility, etc. -- differences that led John Paul II to take away Kung's right to teach as a Catholic theologian in 1979. Instead, they focussed on areas of agreement between them.
Here's John Allen's report:
World: Benedict, Kung set aside differences for a chat
http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2005d/100705/100705l.php
Key quotes, with emphasis added by me:
"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 Kung's efforts to build a Weltethos, or a moral framework based on values shared among religions that can also be recognized by secular reason.
That statement, Kung told NCR, was prepared personally by the pope and shown to Kung for approval prior to release.
Both parties agreed, according to the statement, that it did not make sense to go into the 'persistent doctrinal questions' between Kung and the magisterium of the Catholic church."
and
"At one level, the meeting was a reunion of old friends who taught together at the famous German theology faculty of Tubingen during the 1960s. In fact, it was Kung who hired then-Fr. Joseph Ratzinger at Tubingen, luring him away from a position in Munster. The two men served together as periti, or theological experts, for the German bishops at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), where they were part of the broad progressive majority. At Tubingen they had a standing weekly dinner appointment on Thursday evenings to discuss a journal that they edited together. ...
At another level, however, the Sept. 24 meeting represents an encounter between the two leading symbols of the Catholic left and right in the post-Vatican II period."
[ my comment -- just as the Hitler-Stalin Pact of August 1939 represented an encounter between the two leading symbols of the political left and right in the 1930s. ]
and
"In terms of substance, Kung said the two men found agreement on matters of social policy, the relationship between faith and reason and between science and religion, and the need for Christianity to collaborate with other world religions in building what Kung has termed a 'global ethic'."
"It's not that we agree on everything," Kung said. "But the pope has great empathy for the problems of the world, and wanted to give a positive sign."
Kung said the pope is obviously aware that the meeting would attract attention, and consciously chose to use it as a gesture of "openness."
And here is the Vatican press release cited above, the one that B16 and Kung agreed upon, and was released by the Papal press secretary (and Opus Dei numerary) Navarro-Valls:
KATH.NET - Katholischer Nachrichtendienst
http://www.kath.net/detail.php?id=11582
Key quote, with emphasis added by me:
"The discussion thus concentrated on two subjects that have lately had particular importance in Hans Kung's work: the question of 'Weltethos' (world ethics) and the dialogue between the reason of the natural sciences and the reason of Christian faith. Professor Kung emphasized that his project of 'Weltethos' is by no means an abstract intellectual construct, rather it throws light on the moral values around which the great religions of the world converge, despite all their differences, and which may be considered as valid criteria - given their convincing rationality - by secular reason.
"The Pope welcomed Professor Kung's efforts to contribute to a renewed recognition of the essential moral values of humanity through the dialogue of religions and in the encounter with secular reason. He stressed that the commitment to a renewed awareness of the values that sustain human life is also an important objective of his own pontificate."
Put this together with the selection of Levada as the new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and it's evident that Ratzinger is getting ready for the hour of the United Religions and the New World Order.
Just as a reminder of what the "Global Ethic" is all about ... read pp. 206-210 of False Dawn ... or for an older, shorter essay on the matter, see this:
United Religions Initiative - Promoting a politically correct "Global Ethic" and population control
http://www.fatima.freehosting.net/Articles/Art13.htm
Lee
