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Another call for collegiality
Aged cardinal rejects new council
The 95-year-old former Archbishop of Vienna has joined the growing list of prelates calling for greater collegiality in the government of the Catholic Church.
As the members of the College of Cardinals prepared to discuss issues of Church governance in a special consistory later in May, Cardinal Franz König told the monthly magazine Jesus that the road to Church unity will pass through diversity. The Austrian cardinal also called for reform of the Roman Curia and a careful examination of the role of national episcopal conferences. However, he specifically rejected the idea of a new general council.
“In the past we concentrated a great deal on the Vatican, thinking that centralization was an instrument of defense for the Church; but since Vatican II there is no longer a need for that,” Cardinal König told Jesus. The Church “needs unity, but also diversity,” he added.
Cardinal König is the sole surviving member of the College of Cardinals who received his red hat from Pope John XXIII. He has been a cardinal since December 1958. And he was an active and influential participant in the deliberations of Vatican II.
The cardinal said that he believed Pope John Paul II was prepared to accept moves to decentralize the structure of the Church, “on a national, regional, or continental basis.” However, he added, it would be the next Pontiff who would have the main responsibility for carrying out any major reforms.
On the subject of ecumenism, Cardinal König said with regret that the dialogue with other faiths has been conducted primarily by theologians rather than the ordinary faithful. The result, he remarked, was a “religion of the head” which is a problem especially in Europe. The challenge for pastors, he said, is to provide “not only words, but an example for life.”