THREE days before Pope John Paul visits Germany, critics have opened fire on the Catholic Church and its leader, whom one rebel theologian called a "pious dictator".
The barbs centred on the Pope's authoritarian approach to the faithful and his staunch adherence to traditional moral teachings.
Dr Hans Kung of Tubingen, the theologian banned from teaching within the church in 1979, likened the church to a ship in distress, tossed rudderless on rough seas as the captain yearned to bring it back to its home port in the Middle Ages.
"The church is neither a warship ruled by military drill nor a galley where the one with the hammer sets the pace for all the others," Dr Kung told a seminar in Berlin on Monday.
"Today we can no longer put up with a captain who claims to be everyone's servant but who in fact conducts himself as a pious dictator ... He knows it all, is always right, does not let reality sink in and is not ready to change course at all."
Many Catholics in wealthy Germany want to shake up the hierarchy and create a more open, liberal church that is more democratic, gives women a bigger role, takes a less frowning attitude to sex and abolishes enforced celibacy for priests.
Mr Christian Weisner, a layman who helped organise a petition drive backing liberalisations, said the pontiff could get a less than rousing welcome during his third trip to Germany.
"The Pope still fascinates a lot of people, but I have the impression that he has exhausted the goodwill even of well meaning Christians," Mr Weisner told the daily Tagesspiegel.
More openly antagonistic groups promised to stage rival events during the Pope's three day visit, which will stress ecumenism.