THE Swiss theologian Professor Hans Küng died on Tuesday, aged 93, at his home in the university town of Tübingen, in Germany.
His death was announced by the Global Ethic Foundation, which Professor Küng founded and of which he was president. “It was and remains an honor for us to continue his life’s work. We will preserve, carry on and develop it in his own sense — and bow down in gratitude to its great founder.”
Professor Küng, who was ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1954, was one of the theological advisers to the Second Vatican Council, but fell foul of Rome over his questioning of the tradition, particularly after the promulgation of the birth-control encyclical Humanae Vitae. He was admonished by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and in 1979 he lost his licence to teach as a RC theologian. He remained a frank critic of Rome on both theological and ethical questions and matters of practical church government into the 21st century, in his books and interviews, and as a signatory to open letters calling for church reform.

In a telephone call last summer (2020), when it was evident that Küng no longer had long to live, “Pope Francis asked me to convey his greetings and his blessings to him ‘in Christian communion’”, Kasper recalled. “Hans was overjoyed. It was important for him. He now felt reconciled with the Church and with Pope Francis”, Kasper told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the day after Küng died.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI had also known how serious Küng’s condition was and was praying for him, Kasper said.

He (Kasper) and Küng had known each other since the 1950’s, the cardinal recalled. “We had different views but we always stayed in touch”. Küng had been a “harsh critic and sometimes unjust, but in the depth of his heart he always remained in the Church and never thought of leaving it. He wanted to do the best for the Church from the inside and remained a Christian and a Catholic”, he emphasised. The Pontifical Academy for Life’s comment described him as “a great figure in the theology of the last century whose ideas and analyzes (sic) must always make us reflect on the Catholic Church, the Churches, the society, the culture.” The comment, posted to Twitter on April 6, included a hashtag using the 93-year-old theologian’s name.

“In spite of all his struggles, he was positive about the papacy,” the President of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference and the Bishop of Basel, the Rt Revd Felix Gmür, said. Until he died, Basel was the home diocese of Hans Küng, where he was incardinated.

Bishop Gmür continued: “First of all, he was not a church critic or a pope critic, but a church-lover, even a pope-lover. I was sometimes surprised by the matter-of-factness with which he positively stood by the papacy, despite all his struggles. He found this easier with Francis than with his predecessors.”

The President of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Bishop of Limburg, Dr Georg Bätzing, said that “theological studies have lost a recognised and controversial researcher.

“Hans Küng has never failed to stand up for his convictions. Even if there were tensions and conflicts in this regard.”

Professor Bernd Engler, the Rector of the University of Tübingen, where Professor Küng taught from 1960 to 1996, said that the university had “lost a productive researcher, an extremely creative scholar, and an excellent theologian.

“With the Institute for Ecumenical Research and the Global Ethic Institute at our university, Küng has created institutions of lasting importance and thus profoundly shaped the university. With his globally recognised commitment to church reforms and the dialogue between religions, he has made a significant contribution to the international reputation of the University of Tübingen. “

The German RC priest Fr Stefan Hippler wrote the book God, AIDS and Africa at the height of the AIDS pandemic and was supported by Professor Küng when he ran into trouble with the Church. Fr Hippler said: “The world lost a great theologian, a faithful Catholic priest, and a warrior for truth and hope that this world has a meaning.

“I feel the Church failed to rectify their error of withdrawing his credentials to teach in the name of the Church.”

The Anglican theologian Dr Paula Gooder, who is a member of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III), paid tribute to Professor Küng. She posted on Twitter: “Sorry to learn of the death of Hans Küng. A brilliant ecumenical theologian who often thought outside the box (like arguing that the reformation was an over reaction). I found his writing often inspiring and always thought provoking. May he rest in peace.”

In an interview with the Church Times in 2012 (Features, 26 October 2012), Professor Küng spoke of his work on the Second Vatican Council, which began when he was 34.

“The Council was really epoch-making because it attempted to integrate two paradigm changes at once,” he said. “The Catholic Church had been a Church of the Middle Ages. . . The Council tried to integrate the paradigm of the Reformation, with its high esteem for the Bible, a liturgy for the people, appreciation of the Church as the people of God, and vernacular language — all of which were the demands of the Reformers, with a second paradigm change, of the Enlightenment and modernity. . .

“We affirmed, after a long period, such principles as religious freedom and freedom of conscience. . . The Council was the first solemn acknowledgement that the progress of modernity did not come from the devil, but from humanity.”