Hans Kung

The Tablet (Catholic weekly in the UK) reports today that renowned theologian Hans Kung is in no mood to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council:

"Theologian Hans Küng has turned down an invitation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council at the German Katholikentag at Mannheim, held from tomorrow until Sunday.

"The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Germany's largest Catholic lay organisation which is organising the Congress and has more than 12 million members, invited Fr Küng and the former President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, to participate in their 'Council Gala'. But four days before the congress was due to begin, Fr Küng declined.

"'I was honoured to receive the invitation but is one really in the mood to celebrate at a time when the Church is in such sore distress?' Fr Küng asked in his four-page reply. 'In my opinion there is no reason for a festive Council Gala but rather for an honest service of penance or a funeral service,' he said."

And I say AMEN!