HANS KUNG

Religion often is misused for purely power-political goals, including war.

If priests were allowed to marry, if this would be an optional thing, and if he could have wife and children, he would certainly have less temptation to satisfy certain sexual impulses with minors.

That means that every human being - without distinction of sex, age, race, skin color, language, religion, political view, or national or social origin - possesses an inalienable and untouchable dignity.

All historical experience demonstrates the following: Our earth cannot be changed unless in the not too distant future an alteration in the consciousness of individuals is achieved.

We are conscious that religions cannot solve the economic, political and social problems of this earth.

The Epistle to the Romans is an extremely important synthesis of the whole theology of St. Paul.

I remember the Curia said, that's up to the American bishops, not up to Rome.

We are convinced of the fundamental unity of the human family.

Humanity today possesses sufficient economic, cultural and spiritual resources to introduce a better global order.

And a third thing is the understanding of the Church as a community, a communion which is just a hierarchy but the people of God, whose servants are the priests and bishops.

Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia - even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts.

However, if the religions in essence merely repeat statements from the United Nations Human Rights Declaration, such a Declaration becomes superfluous; an ethic is more than rights.

Hundreds of millions of human beings on our planet increasingly suffer from unemployment, poverty, hunger, and the destruction of their families.

As a matter of fact, you have deficiencies in all religions, but you have truth in all religions.

That is the Roman way: to give favors to the favorites.

I like the catholicity in time: our tradition is one of 2,000 years.

It is an absolutely unique success of the church community to have introduced such an epoch-making change, in just a few years, without having a serious division.

At the same time we are aware that our various religions and ethical traditions often offer very different bases for what is helpful and what is unhelpful for men and women, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil.

A human person is infinitely precious and must be unconditionally protected.

The Gospel has to be the norm.

But I have to add - and this answers your other question - this catholicity in time and in space is only meaningful for me if there is, at the same time, a concentration on the Gospel.

After two world wars, the collapse of fascism, nazism, communism and colonialism and the end of the cold war, humanity has entered a new phase of its history.

Second, we also got a more authentic liturgy of the people of God, in the vernacular language.

Religions cannot solve the economic, political and social problems of this earth. However, they can indeed provide what obviously cannot be attained by economic plans, political programs or legal regulations alone: They can effect a change in the inner orientation, the whole mentality, the "hearts," of people

Our time has experienced greater technological progress than ever existed before, and yet we are faced with the fact that world-wide poverty, hunger, death of children, unemployment, misery and the destruction of nature have not abated but rather to some extent increased. Many peoples are threatened with economic ruin, social disarray, political marginalization and national collapse.