Walter Kasper

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (1999–2001) Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart (1989–1999)
Motto	Veritatem in caritate ("truth in charity")
Coat of arms

Walter Kasper (born 5 March 1933) is a

Early life

Born in Heidenheim an der Brenz, Germany, Kasper was

From 1957 to 1958 he was a parochial vicar in Stuttgart. He returned to his studies and earned a doctorate in dogmatic theology from the University of Tübingen. He was a faculty member at Tübingen from 1958 to 1961 and worked for three years as an assistant to Leo Scheffczyk and Hans Küng, who was banned from teaching by Vatican authorities because of his views on contraception and papal infallibility.

He later taught dogmatic theology at the

Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart

Kasper was named

In January 2009, Kasper told The New York Times that he had little, if any, input on whether to lift the excommunication of four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X.^[6] Kasper was distancing himself from the scandal that ensued when it transpired that one of the bishops, Richard Williamson, was found to have claimed that reports about The Holocaust were exaggerated and that no Jews died in Nazi gas chambers. As the Vatican official responsible for relations with the Jewish religion, Kasper felt it necessary to comment on the action and the process leading up to the lifting of the excommunications. He said that: "Up to now people in the Vatican have spoken too little with each other and have not checked where problems might arise." He said that in lifting the excommunications "there were misunderstandings and management errors in the Curia."^[7]

Comments on Britain

In September 2010, Cardinal Kasper withdrew from the papal visit to

A spokesman for the Church in Britain said that Kasper's remarks were not the views of the Vatican or of the Church.[8] The cardinal's secretary said that Kasper had decided not to travel because gout made it difficult for him to walk.^[9] He also explained the cardinal used "aggressive atheism" to describe people like Richard Dawkins, a prominent atheist, who have been very critical of the Pope and talked about making a "citizens arrest" of the Pope while in Britain.^[9]

Criticism of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion

Cardinal Kasper has criticized the Church of England policies in relation to female priests and the elevation of women to the episcopate. He expressed his views in the address given to the Church of England Bishops' Meeting at 5 June 2006.^[10] He said that the ordination of women as bishops would "call into question what was recognized by the Second Vatican Council (Unitatis Redintegratio, 13), that the Anglican Communion occupied 'a special place' among churches and ecclesial communities of the West." He warned that the "restoration of full Church communion ... would realistically no longer exist following the introduction of the ordination of women to episcopal office."^[11] He spoke at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, criticizing sharply the departures from Christian orthodoxy taken on women clergy and episcopate and even more by some member churches of the Anglican Communion on allowing the blessing of same-sex unions and non-celibate homosexual clergy. He called at the occasion for a new Oxford Movement to rise among Anglicanism.^[12]

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, on 17 March 2013, four days after his election as Pope, called Kasper "a clever theologian, a good theologian", in the course of a sermon in which he reported that Kasper's book on mercy "did me a lot of good".^[1][13]

Proposal of admission at communion of remarried couples

Cardinal Kasper's proposal to admit to communion the Roman Catholic couples who have remarried, while still being legally married according to the Church's doctrine, is the most controversial question in which he has been involved in so far during the pontificate of Pope Francis. On 21 February 2014, Kasper said at the cardinals Consistory held in Rome that "The Church cannot question the words of Jesus on the indissolubility of marriage. Whoever expects the Consistory and the Synod to come up with 'easy', general solutions that apply to everyone, are mistaken. But given the difficulties which families today face and the huge rise in the number of failed marriages, new paths can be explored in order to respond to the deep needs of divorced people who have remarried as part of a civil union, who recognise their failure, convert and after a period of penance ask to be re-admitted to the sacraments."

During the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2014, Cardinal Kasper told reporters that since African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries have a "taboo" against homosexuality, "they should not tell us too much what we have to do."^[18] Once the story broke, he denied that he made any such comment. The reporter who wrote the story, Edward Pentin, subsequently produced a recording of the conversation, which verified that the Cardinal had made those statements.^[18] Cardinal Raymond Burke called Kasper's remarks "profoundly sad and scandalous".^[19] Kasper subsequently confirmed that he had had the conversation, and offered this response for one of his remarks:

If one of my remarks about Africans was perceived as demeaning or insulting, then I am honestly sorry. That was and is not my intention, and not my view at all. No one will deny that Africa's culture is different from Europe's in many respects. But I have been in Africa too often not to esteem African culture highly.^[20]

Kasper also said parts of the Catholic media were engaged in a "deliberate dirty tricks" campaign against him, and said that "The fact that Catholic media (and unfortunately a cardinal in person) should participate in it, in order to tear down another position morally, is shameful."^[20][21]

On Jesus Christ

In his book The God of Jesus Christ, Kasper concluded that what Jesus effected was to give suffering "eternal import, the import of love." Kasper points out that Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine of Hippo, working out of the New Testament, speak of a God who can freely choose to feel compassion, which implies suffering. Kasper adds that: "It is Origen who gave us the clearest statement. In Origen's words: 'First God suffered, then he came down. What was the suffering he accepted for us? The suffering of love.' Origen adds that it is not just the Son but also the Father who suffers so. This is made possible by God's freedom in love."^[22]

Cardinal Kasper's book Jesus The Christ (1974) treats Christology in three manners: a contemporary approach, a historical approach and a factual approach. After these three approaches have been exhausted, the Christological themes of resurrection, mystery, and priesthood are treated. Ecclesiology is seen as part of Christology in this book because the Church is oriented towards Christ in his person, since Christ did not only say things, but he also did things.^[23]

Works

• — (1965). Das Absolute in der Geschichte. Philosophie und Theologie der Geschichte in der Spätphilosophie Schellings [The Absolute in history: Philosophy and theology of history in Schelling's late philosophy] (in German).
• — (1970). Glaube und Geschichte [Faith and history] (in German).
• — (1972). Einführung in den Glauben [Introduction to the faith] (in German).
• — (1974). Jesus der Christus [Jesus the Christ] (in German).
• — (1977). Zur Theologie der Christlichen Ehe [The theology of Christian marriage] (in German).
• — (1982). Der Gott Jesu Christi [The God of Jesus Christ] (in German).
• — (1995). Leben aus den Glauben [Life from the faith] (in German).
• — (1987). Theologie und Kirche [Theology and church] (in German). Vol. 1.
• — (1999). Theologie und Kirche [Theology and church] (in German). Vol. 2.
• — (2003). Leadership in the Church [Leadership in the church] (in German).
• — (2004). Sakrament der Einheit. Eucharistie und Kirche [Sacrament of unity: Eucharist and church] (in German).
• — (2005). Wege in die Einheit. Perspektiven für die Ökumene [Paths to unity: Perspectives for ecumenism] (in German).
• with Deckers, Daniel (2008). Wo das Herz des Glaubens schlägt. Die Erfharung eines Leben [Where the heart of faith beats: The Experience of a life] (in German).
• — (2011). Katolische Kirche: Wesen - Wirklichkeit - Sendung [Catholic Church: Being, reality, transmission] (in German).
• — (2012). Barmherzigkeit: Grundbegriff des Evangeliums - Schlüssel christlichen Lebens [Mercy: Central concept of the gospel, key to Christian life] (in German).
• — (2014). Das Evangelium von der Familie. Die Rede vor dem Konsistorium [The gospel of the family. The speech at the consistory] (in German).
• — (2015). Papst Franziskus - Revolution der Zärtlichkeit und der Liebe [Pope Francis: Revolution of tenderness and love] (in German).
• — (2018). Die Botschaft von Amoris Laetitia. Ein freundlicher Disput [The message of Amoris Laetitia: A friendly dispute] (in German).

References

Further reading

• Huhtanen, Tiina (2016). Event of the Radically New: Revelation in the Theology of Walter Kasper (PhD thesis). University of Helsinki.
  ISBN 978-951-51-2045-8
  .
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper, in Enciclopedia filosofica, Milano, Bompiani, 2006
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper: Chiesa cattolica. Essenza, realtà, missione, in «Studium», 5, 2012, pp. 761–77
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper e Martin Lutero in prospettiva ecumenica, in «Studium», 4, 2016, pp. 626–63
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper tra scienza ed ecclesiologia, in «Osservatore Romano» del 4 marzo 2018, p. 6
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper. Cattolicismo vivente sotto la parola di Dio , Roma, Edizioni Studium, 2018.
• Antonio Russo, Schelling and Twentieth Century Catholic Theology. The case of Walter Kasper, in «International Journal of Philosophy and Theology», 1–2, 2019, pp. 160–177.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Walter Kasper.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Walter Kasper.

• "Kasper Card. Walter". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper, in Enciclopedia filosofica, Milano, Bompiani, 2006.
• Atonio Russo, Walter Kasper: Chiesa cattolica. Essenza, realtà, missione, in «Studium», 5, 2012, pp. 761–774
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper e Martin Lutero in prospettiva ecumenica, in «Studium», 4, 2016, pp. 626–631
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper tra scienza ed ecclesiologia, in «Osservatore Romano» del 4 marzo 2018, p. 6.
• Antonio Russo, Walter Kasper. Cattolicismo vivente sotto la parola di Dio , Roma, Edizioni Studium, 2018.
• Antonio Russo, Schelling and Twentieth Century Catholic Theology. The case of Walter Kasper, in «International Journal of Philosophy and Theology», 1–2, 2019, pp. 160–177.
• Kasper's biography at catholic-pages.com
• Kasper's views on Dominus Iesus
• "Islam is a Different Culture". SPIEGEL ONLINE: Interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper, 18 September 2006.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Georg Moser	Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart 4 April 1989 – 31 May 1999	Succeeded by Gebhard Fürst
Preceded by Pierre François Marie Joseph Duprey	Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity 16 March 1999 – 21 February 2001	Succeeded by Marc Ouellet
Preceded by Alberto Bovone	Cardinal Deacon of Ognissanti in Via Appia Nuova 21 February 2001 – 21 February 2011	Himself as Cardinal Priest
Preceded by Edward Idris Cassidy	President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity 3 March 2001 – 1 July 2010	Succeeded by Kurt Koch
	President of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews 3 March 2001 – 1 July 2010
Himself as Cardinal Deacon	Cardinal Priest 'pro hac vice' of Ognissanti in Via Appia Nuova 21 February 2011 –	Incumbent