Of Hans Küng and Josef Ratzinger

Fascinating article on the life of Josef Ratzinger in the years immediately following Vatican II - where he was invited to be professor at the German university of Tübingen under the endorsement of none other than Hans Küng himself (the infamous "off-the-deep-end-of-the-left-side-of-the-pool" theologian whom Ratzinger would later on censor during his time at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith).

Excerpt:

In 1966 Joseph Ratzinger was still not forty, but his hair was already white and his fame as the enfant prodige of German theology has been established by his intense and decisive participation in the Council venture. Vatican II was coming to its end, the air was still vibrant with trusting hope. But the expectation of good weather in the world for the Church was marked by other, strange portents. Already in that year, in a lecture summing up the Council, Joseph the Bavarian took account of these mixed conditions. «It seems to me important», he said, «to show the two faces of what has filled us with joy and gratitude to the Council…. It seems to me important to point out also the dangerous, new triumphalism into which the denouncers of past triumphalism often fall. While the Church remains a pilgrim on the earth, it has no reason to glory in itself. This new way of glorying could become more insidious than tiaras and gestatorial chairs that, in any case, are by now more a reason for smiling than for pride».

Read the whole account at 30 Giorni, and stay tuned as it looks like there will be at least one more article to come!