The Pope must die claim on Graz Uni website

An Australian professor of music at the University of Graz in Austria has called for the death sentence for the Pope in an article published on the University’s website.

Karl-Franzens-University officials who were bombarded with complaints have now taken the article off-line and confirmed that the article represented the private opinion of Music Professor Richard Parncutt, and not that of the University.

In the article the professor argues that the refusal of the Vatican to advocate contraception made Pope Benedict responsible for the future death through aides of millions of people. The only reasonable reaction that was the death sentence for mass murder – he argued.

The professor also said that mass killers such as the Norwegian Behring Breivik did not in contrast deserve the death sentence.

University of Graz spokesman Helmut Konrad said that the University believed human rights one of their most valued principles and anything that damage that would be strongly rejected. Anything that was a personal opinion that was not to do with scientific work did not belong on the University’s website,” he said.

Parncutt  has in the meantime been forced to retract his statement although has not made any public statement on the subject as yet. He has been invited to attend a disciplinary hearing after the New Year break.

It is not the first time that the professor has been in hot water – in October he called for the death sentence for anyone who tried to deny global warming.

The Australian-born professor is highly regarded in university circles and is regarded as devoted but not conventional.