Catholic rebel theologian Hans Kueng, critic of Pope Benedict, dies at 93

Swiss theologian Hans Kueng, a rebel Roman Catholic who questioned the doctrine of papal infallibility, has died aged 93, the Foundation for a Global Ethic that he founded said on Tuesday.

Swiss theologian Hans Kueng, a rebel Roman Catholic who questioned the doctrine of papal infallibility, has died aged 93, the Foundation for a Global Ethic that he founded said on Tuesday. Kueng, who had Parkinson's disease, was born in Sursee, Canton of Lucerne, and studied in Rome before being ordained in 1954 and appointed professor of theology at the University of Tuebingen, in southwestern Germany, in 1960.

Kueng championed reform of the Catholic Church since its 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, where he was a young adviser arguing for a decentralized church, married priests and artificial birth control. The Council did not adopt those ideas. Kueng was stripped by the Vatican of his license to teach Catholic theology in 1979 after he questioned the doctrine of papal infallibility and ignored Vatican pressure to recant.

The University of Tuebingen responded by making him a professor of ecumenical theology, securing him a post from which he wrote dozens of books, some of them best-sellers, and many articles. In the early 1990s, Kueng initiated his "Global Ethic" project, aimed at describing what the world's religions have in common and establishing a set of common values.

In 2010, Kueng urged Roman Catholic bishops to defy Pope Benedict and push through reforms from below to restore the credibility of their church shaken by child sexual abuse scandals. He later described Pope Francis as "a ray of hope".

In his memoirs, he cited the late Pope John Paul's public struggle with Parkinson's and the silent suffering of boxer Muhammad Ali, also afflicted with the disease, as models he did not want to follow. "How much longer will my life be liveable in dignity?" he asked. "No person is obligated to suffer the unbearable as something sent from God."

His foundation said he died peacefully at his house in Tuebingen. (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Peter Cooney)