Papal meeting gives Küng hope

Rome

Dissident Roman Catholic theologian Hans Küng says he is hoping for new openness from the Vatican after he met with Pope Benedict XVI on Sept. 24 at the pontiff’s summer residence near Rome.

“I hope that my meeting with the Pope is a sign that the great problems facing the church and its faithful will be re-discussed in an open fashion,” Mr. Küng said, according to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Mr. Küng’s licence to teach Roman Catholic theology was revoked by the Vatican in 1979 after he cast a critical eye on concepts such as papal infallibility and the virgin birth. Efforts by Mr. Küng to meet Pope Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, came to nothing.Mr. Küng, who is now noted as a pioneer of dialogue with non-Christian faiths through his Global Ethic Foundation, and Pope Benedict met in a “friendly atmosphere,” Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro Valls said.