Kurt Krenn
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The Most Reverend Kurt Krenn (born June 28, 1936) is an Austrian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the former Bishop of Sankt Pölten, having served from 1991 to 2004. Krenn is noted for his conservative views.
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[edit] Career
He was born in Rannariedl, Upper Austria, as the second of six children, and was baptized on the following July 2. His father died on August 6, 1944 during his service as a soldier in World War II. After attending a gymnasium in Schlierbach, Krenn studied at the Seminary of Linz and the Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, where he was ordained to the priesthood on October 7, 1962. From 1970 to 1975, he taught philosophy at the Catholic Theological University in Linz. In 1975, he became professor of systematic theology at the University of Regensburg in Germany.
On March 3, 1987, he became suffragan bishop in Vienna, and on July 11, 1991, he became Bishop of the Diocese of St. Pölten, Lower Austria. In both instances, his appointment created widespread public criticism and protests. Krenn has since repeatedly used the media to promote his conservative beliefs and thus causing anger among liberal Catholics, whom he has referred to as "anti-Christs" in the past[1], and bemusement in the non-religious population. He once described homosexuality as a disease, and also expressed about what he calls "the Islamization of Austria", which is allegedly caused by immigration.
[edit] St. Pölten pornography scandal
In 2004, Bishop Krenn became subject to a lot of criticism following some allegations of child pornography and homosexuality within the seminary in St. Pölten, which is under Krenn's supervision. In late 2003, the body of a seminarist was found drifting in the Danube. In early 2004, police seized a computer in the seminary containing, according to police reports released on July 13, 2004, more than 40,000 pornographic pictures downloaded from the internet, many of them showing illegal child pornography. Furthermore, a number of photographs have emerged in the Austrian media showing alleged homosexual acts among seminarists and between Ulrich Küchl, the regens of the seminary and seminarists, which were allegedly performed at a Christmas party. Krenn publicly downplayed the accusations, calling the alleged homosexual acts shown on the pictures "boyish pranks".
Some of Krenn's measures regarding the administration of the seminary have been criticized as having been conducive to the scandal. First, Krenn removed the St. Pölten seminary from the common educational framework of Austrian seminaries and allegedly lowered the standards of admission, allowing aspiring priests into the seminary who had been turned down elsewhere for psychological reasons. Second, his appointment policies with respect to the management of the seminary were increasingly seen as problematic.
In late July 2004, the Vatican appointed Klaus Küng, the bishop of Feldkirch, Vorarlberg as apostolic visitator to Krenn's diocese and order to investigate the occurrences. Church authorities have since then forbidden Krenn to give any interviews, an order that was at first completely ignored and later even publicly rejected by Krenn ('I can do whatever I want'). A member of the seminary of Polish origin was judged to be guilty of the possession of child pornographic pictures.
[edit] Resignation
Complying with a papal wish, Krenn announced his resignation at the end of September 2004. On October 7, 2004 he was succeeded by Klaus Küng.
[edit] Trivia
- Krenn is good friends with Pope Benedict XVI, who sent him a consoling letter on June 18, 2005, and Stanisław Cardinal Dziwisz, the former private secretary of Pope John Paul II and current Archbishop of Kraków.
