Kng Condemned

The Vatican is open to new ideas these days, but some old ones are still nonnegotiable. Among these are the infallibility of the Catholic Church when it defines matters of faith and morals, the exclusive authority of its bishops to teach authentically, and the limitation of valid Eucharistic celebration to ordained priests. Hans Kung, 46, a Catholic priest and professor of theology at Germany's Tubingen University, has long been attacking these beliefs in such books as The Church and Infallibility? An Inquiry (TIME, April 5, 1971). For seven years, the Vatican has been wondering what to do about him. As letters went back and forth, Kung resisted summonses to Rome for questioning unless he could get open hearings and what he considers "due process." After his final refusal last September, 26 Vatican theologians and administrators began meeting regularly to discuss his case in the gray-and-ocher palace of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Conservatives wanted a total publishing ban or even Kung's removal from the faculty at Tubingen. But last week the Vatican and the bishops of Germany announced a less severe verdict that has Pope Paul's personal approval: Kung should neither write nor say anything further to undermine the defined teachings on church authority. Technically, the statement was a monitum, a warning against serious error. Such silencings, and sterner measures, were once routine. But last week's was the first monitum against an individual theologian since 1962, when the Vatican posthumously condemned the works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

The German bishops have been reluctant to crack down on the popular Kung, whose latest book is a bestseller in the country. Kung has not been asked to revoke past statements or keep his disputed books from further publication, said Julius Cardinal Dopfner. He has just been told "not to continue to teach such opinions."

Keep Silent. Kung himself claimed victory and said the Vatican was admitting that "the secret inquisitorial proceedings against me were a failure." Other Catholic observers noted that although the Vatican's admonition insisted on the infallibility of the church, it did not explicitly mention the infallibility of the Pope, one of Kung's most celebrated targets. Will Kung now keep silent on the disputed ideas, as the Vatican asks? He hinted that he might: "Right now my mind is turned toward other questions. I do not intend to raise the old ones in future books." But, "I will not tolerate being prevented from pursuing my theological services to my fellow man."

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