On Saturday, 24 September, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI and Professor Hans
Küng met for a friendly conversation. Both sides agreed that
for this conversation there was no point in entering into a dispute
about those questions of Church teaching, which are the object
of controversy between Hans Küng and the Magisterium of the
Catholic Church. For this reason, the conversation centred on two
areas, which in recent years have been in the forefront of Hans
Küng’s work: the question of a global ethic and the
dialogue between the natural sciences and the Christian faith.
Professor Küng made clear that the Global Ethic project is not
some kind of abstract intellectual construction. On the contrary, it
is concerned to bring to light those moral values on which the great
religions of the world, despite all their differences, tend to converge
and which, by reason of their convincing meaningfulness, prove themselves
to be valid standards with which secular thinking can also agree. The
Pope praised Professor Küng’s efforts – in dialogue
with the religions and with secular thinking – to contribute
to a renewed recognition of the essential moral values of mankind.
He emphasized that the engagement for a renewed awareness of the values
underlying human life is also an essential concern of his pontificate.
The Pope likewise emphasised his approval of Professor Küng’s
efforts to promote the dialogue between faith and the natural sciences
and to bring to the fore the necessity and the reasonableness of posing
the question of God in the context of the thinking of the natural sciences.
For his part, Professor Küng expressed his agreement with the
efforts of the Pope to promote the dialogue of the religions and the
encounter with the diverse social groups of the modern world.
Citta del Vaticano, 26 September 2005
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