Hans Kung on John Paul II

Much of the world is paying homage to John Paul II's courage in Poland, his outreach to Jews, his global communication
skills and much more. Here is another part of the story, reported today by msnbc.com -- I'll post a much longer statement from Kung himself on my j&p list soon.

ricardo

A BLAST FROM OUTSPOKEN THEOLOGIAN

Amid the outpouring of praise for the late pope, a leading theologian who defied John Paul II says the pontiff has bequeathed a “dead hand” on the Roman Catholic church that will continue to exert a damaging influence beyond his death.

“The Polish pope’s internal policies were devastating,” Hans Kueng said in a statement, citing “many average, even incompetent bishops, some countries where over half of all parishes are without priests, and less and less qualified new blood.”

He added, “This pope continued to forbid priests from marrying, he forbade women to use the Pill, men to use condoms, women to take Church ministries, lay theologists to preach and Christians (of other denominations) to share the Eucharist.”