German theologians appeal for CDF reform

BY ANABEL INGE
POPE BENEDICT XVI is facing growing protest over the way the Vatican handles critical thinkers in the Church as an appeal to reform the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) gathers support among German theologians.
The appeal, launched after the CDF disciplined leading Jesuit liberation theologian Fr Jon Sobrino in March, has attracted the signatures of about 130 German and Austrian theologians, some of them former colleagues of the Pope himself.
Its author, Peter Hiinennann, a retired theology professor at the German University of Tiibingen, attacked the way that the CDF is run.
He told Reuters: 'The structure of the CDF must be reformed. It still operates just like the censorship bureaus most European countries had until the end of the 19th century."
He added: "It has a small staff of functionaries... who work from the denunciations they get. But we live in a time when theologians everywhere are constantly researching new topics. There are many new issues, like bioethics and technology."
Mr Hiinermann, whose colleague Hans Kiing was disciplined by the CDF in 1979, wrote the appeal as an article for a German Catholic monthly in April.
His plea for "modern quality control" of theology in the Church has since been translated into five languages and turned into a virtual appeal by his colleagues who sent in emails expressing their support.
The appeal represents an implicit criticism of Pope Benedict XVI who, as prefect of the CDF for 24 years before his election to the papacy, disciplined many dissenting theologians.
Now under Cardinal William Levada, the CDF released a disciplinary notification to Fr Sobrino in March, saying that his writings included "enoneous or dangerous propositions".
In particular, the notification, signed by the Pope, criticised Fr Sobrino for placing insufficient emphasis on the divinity of Christ. The CDF insisted that some of Fr Sobrino's arguments "could cause harm to the faithful". Fr Sobrino was the first theologian to be disciplined in Benedict XVI's pontificate.
The Pope's reluctance to impose penalties or sanctions surprised his critics, who expected his papacy would involve a "clampdown" on unorthodox theology.