"Fiery liberal" and Benedict reunite

I didn't tell you I was meeting the Pope? Ha, ha.

From the National Catholic Reporter:

Hans Küng and Pope Benedict, old friends and archrivals, have a cordial meeting

In a dramatic gesture of reconciliation, Pope Benedict XVI met Sept. 24 with his former colleague and longtime nemesis, Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Kü�ng, a fiery liberal who once compared then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with the head of the KGB in his capacity as the Vatican's top doctrinal enforcer.

In 1979, Kü�ng's license to teach Catholic theology was revoked by Pope John Paul II, a decision in which Ratzinger played a role as a member of the German bishops' conference. In the years since, Kü�ng has been a leading critic of both many of the doctrinal positions espoused by Ratzinger, and the investigatory procedures by which they are enforced.

During a four-hour session that stretched over dinner, the two men essentially agreed to disagree on doctrinal matters. The pope offered warm praise for Kü�ng's efforts to foster dialogue among religions and with the natural sciences, while K�üng expressed support for the pope's commitment along the same lines.

When two camps within Catholicism can produce such Christian behavior, it seems we might be doing okay after all. Think about it. If your former friend barred you from pursuing your deeply felt calling, would you still meet? If your esteemed colleague began to denounce the basis of your ideological framework, would you have him for dinner?

P.S. Now we know who Hans Küng is.