the Obama magisterium

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Feb 09, 2009

“Benedict is unteachable in matters of birth control and abortion..."

So says Hans Küng, the Swiss theologian who has made it clear over the years that he is ready to embrace the authority of the Church magisterium as long as the magisterium agrees with him. And if Küng did consider the Pope "teachable," who should be doing the teaching? You don't really have to ask.

Since the problem is the Pope's lack of theological sophistication, Küng presumably wants a better theologian on Peter's throne, right? Not exactly. Suddenly showing all the theological erudition of a Valley Girl on her fourth latte, he suggests that an excellent replacement would be Barack Obama. And now his fancy takes flight, leaving reality miles behind:

For Kung, Benedict should act as Obama has done, declaring a crisis, identifying the problems, proclaiming a vision of hope, revitalizing ecumenism, gathering competent colleagues of either gender, and using the power of his executive office to issue decrees (unhindered by such institutions as a democratically-elected Congress or a Supreme Court.)

Obviously Küng has a-- shall we say impressionstic?-- grasp of American political affairs. He may not realize that Obama is not attacking the economic crisis alone, and actually does need to enlist the help of Congress to pass legislation. But never mind that. Let's just take note of his advice. Five or ten years from now, we can come back and ask ourselves which leader was more successful: Pope Benedict, in reviving ecumenism; or President Obama, in reviving the economy. The smart money is on the Pope.

By the way, Hans, Obama has issued one executive order that had an immediate impact. It involved "matters of birth control and abortion." He's teachable, you betcha.