Cardinal Martini was a free spirit, brave enough to speak out but was very faithful to the Church
Echoing the words of Cardinal Martini, who died on Friday aged 85, Fr Pace said the Church needed to pick leaders who were spiritual, had vision, knew how to listen and respected everyone, including non-believers. These were the true leaders, he said.
Agreeing with this, theologian René Camilleri said: “Cardinal Martini was a free spirit and the Church needs them. He was brave enough to speak out but was very faithful to the Church. It did not keep him from voicing his mind… The Church should not be afraid of free spirits. Unfortunately, it is… because of insecurity.”
The former Archbishop of Milan was loved by many for his liberal views and his ability to listen to everyone. He retired in 2002 when it revealed he was suffering from a form of Parkinson’s disease, which hurt his chances of becoming Pope three years later.
After Cardinal Martini died, thousands of faithful flocked to the Milan Cathedral to pay their final respects to him as his body lay in state. His funeral will be held in the Milan Cathedral today.
His liberal opinions, on issues such as condom use, in vitro fertilisation and gay relationships, sometimes raised the hackles of Church conservatives.
In a recent interview he said: “The Church has been left 200 years behind. Why doesn’t it rouse itself? Are we afraid?”
But Fr Pace pointed out that, while the international media picked up on that quote, he said much more during that interview published in Il Corriere Della Sera – where the Cardinal had a regular column in which he answered people’s questions.
“Like all great men he was a complex man and his words should not be simplified. His first love was the Word of God… He spoke about the importance for the Church and its followers to go back and give more importance to the Word of God.”
Dr Camilleri said that Cardinal Martini spoke about him-self as being a believer and a non-believer at the same time. That made him a great man of the Church.
“He was a fully fledged academic but he did not have all the answers. He was always in search, even for answers to the big questions to which there were doctrinal answers,” he said.
Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s top prosecutor, said he was always inspired by the writings of Cardinal Martini.
“Cardinal Martini managed to unite his expert knowledge of the scriptures with a profound understanding of modern culture and a genuine love for the Church and for humanity. His monthly reflections on the Corriere della Sera… were a joy to read. His answers revealed a great soul of a shepherd who could lead us, his readers, beyond our questions to a meeting with the Risen Lord. He also had the intellectual honesty to admit that we do not have all the answers.”