Theologian says Pope must go

THE POPE should resign and a Third Vatican Council be called to consider a root and branch reform of the papacy, one of the Roman Catholic Church's most distinguished theologians says today, writes Paul Vallely.

Professor Hans Kung, most famous of its dissident theologians, claims fear and paralysis has descended upon Rome in the dying years of the pontificate of John Paul II, this century's longest-serving pope.

"We cannot go on as we are now with a man who is no longer in control," he says in an interview. Prof Kung, regarded as the biggest name in theology, challenges the creeping growth of claims to infallibility. Rome has stated its ban on women priests is now infallible, and that may be extended to contraception and abortion too.