In his last interview, published immediately after he died, Cardinal Martini said the Church was "200 years behind the times" and called for far-reaching reforms.
"For me Cardinal Martini was one of the truly great and impressive episcopal figures who was totally committed to the Church and to his episcopal ministry," Cardinal Schönborn said on prime-time Austrian state television on Sunday 9 September.
The news of Martini's death had "overshadowed" the Schülerkreis meeting at Castel Gandolfo that weekend, and the participants had prayed for the cardinal together, Cardinal Schönborn revealed.
He himself was "deeply grateful" to Martini for making the Word of God known to so many people and getting "countless" people to enjoy the Bible, he said.