When I first heard the news on April 6 that the 93-year-old Swiss theologian and author Father Hans Küng had died, I had just finished the prayers for the fifth day of the Novena of Divine Mercy. His death during the novena necessarily frames our Christian reaction.
For the novena s fifth day, Jesus had asked St. Faustina Kowalska, and through her us, to bring to him the souls of those who have separated themselves from my Church and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy.
The Polish sister of Our Lady of Mercy, in turn, begged Jesus to receive into the abode of your most compassionate heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from your Church and implored God the Father to turn your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who have separated themselves from your Son s Church, who have squandered your blessing and misused your graces by obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors, but upon the love of your own Son and upon his bitter Passion
The theologian who challenged papal infallibility
Father Hans Küng was dubbed Antichrist for his views on governance, liturgy, birth control, clerical celibacy and abortion
Catholic theologian Father Hans Küng challenged papal infallibly and lost his license to teach Catholic theology.
The controversial Swiss-born theologian’s lucidly expressed thoughts found a place in more than 50 books and countless speeches.
Father Küng’s relentless tirade against the Church’s hierarchy, particularly popes, earned him the sobriquet “Antichrist” as he was accused of being the greatest threat to the Church since Martin Luther.
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Swiss-born Father Hans Küng, a prominent and sometimes controversial theologian who taught in Germany, died April 6, 2021, at age 93. Father Küng is pictured in a 2015 photo. (CNS photo/Harald Oppitz, KNA)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) German and Swiss bishops who knew and worked with Father Hans Küng described him as a man who loved the Catholic Church, even though the theologian sometimes went beyond the limits of Catholic doctrine and criticized the decisions of church leaders.
Swiss-born Father Küng, 93, died April 6 in Tübingen, Germany, where he lived and taught for decades.
German Cardinal Walter Kasper, speaking to L Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, described Father Küng as a person who knew deep in his heart that he was Catholic and never left or wanted to leave the church, even if his behavior was not always that of a Catholic.