More Interview Time with Kasper

Cardinal Kasper now explains to the super-neocon Kath.net that he didn’t say some of the things he was reliably reported to have said regarding radical feminist theologians. This “clarification” comes one week after the “offending” statements – which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. So the Kath.net post states that “the question from the audience concerned a nun (Johnson), who teaches as a theologian at Fordham University,and who Kasper has known for along time – he knows, however, little about her theology.” “So I (says Kasper) made a couple of observations regarding the necessity of dialog for the clarification of the issues, but did not address her theology and even less so the discussions with the union with (sic) major superiors.”

Yet Commonweal reported:

“Kasper: Sometimes the CDF views things a bit narrowly. Aquinas was condemned by his bishop. So Johnson is in good company.”
(Commonweal adds:”this is more or less a direct quote”) Earlier in the interview, Kasper was quoted to have said that he “esteems” Johnson and Fiorenza

It sure sounds like he is addressing Johnson’s theology here and the relations with the CDF. Kasper further asserts that he – and his audience – could not have known anything of Cardinal Mueller’s specific criticisms of Johnson because they were published that day. Why that would be the case is unclear to me – particularly since Cardinal Mueller’s remarks had been given as an address to the Leadership Conference on April 30 and had been reported before the interview in the evening.

Moreover, he doesn’t deny at all the most outrageous of his assertions made during his promotional tour: that the Church does not opposes birth control, or that Pope Francis believes 50% of all marriages are invalid. It is all very similar to the endless Vatican “clarifications” of Pope Francis’s remarks.