Confused "Theologians" Demand 'Restructuring' of CDF

PARIS (Reuters) - Pope Benedict is coming under mounting criticism from his former German theologian colleagues who liken the Catholic Church's doctrinal office, which the pontiff once headed, to a 19th century censorship bureau.

Its censure in March of Father Jon Sobrino, a leading liberation theology proponent, prompted an appeal for a thorough overhaul of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the modern-day successor of the Inquisition.

"The structure of the CDF must be reformed," Peter Huenermann told Reuters by telephone from Tuebingen, Germany.

"It still operates just like the censorship bureaus most European countries had until the end of the 19th century," Huenermann, the appeal's author and a retired theology professor from Tuebingen University, said.

About 130 theologians in Germany and Austria have backed the appeal and messages of support are starting to come in from other countries as it gets translated.

The protest amounts to a vote of no confidence in the way Benedict, who headed the CDF for 24 years before becoming pope in 2005, deals with critical thinkers in the Church.