330. Cardinal Martini: An Awkward Figure for the Catholic Church

Cardinal Carlo Martini whose corpse is barely cold in his grave had more friends than enemies and those enemies were/are to be found among those who sustain the traditional aspect of the Catholic Church.  Hence, in spite of the laudable words of circumstance from prelates on his death, more often than not they were simply words of circumstance and nothing more. 

The trouble with Catholics like Cardinal Martini, and there are many of those like him around, is that they are valid people through and through, holy and spiritual- yet they dare criticize what is going on inside the Catholic Church, at the highest levels at that… and the Church does not seem to know how to handle such a situation- Cardinal Martini was an embarrassment to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. 

Yet Cardinal Martini was saying only things that made sense to people who had to face daily life in the normal world, issues to which the Church seems to be both blind and deaf, or if it isn’t, as it says it isn’t, the Church is not doing much about it, giving the impression that they are not overtly concerned about it and certainly showing there is no pressure in resolving such problems.

Indeed, and what are these problems Cardinal Martini touched upon? I should think by now his declaration that the Church is 200 years behind the times has reached all four corners of the world. By that he meant, as he often spoke out upon, the question of people who are divorced, who are not married in Church, who live together and who can’t take part in the sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance, which in effect is what the Catholic faith revolves around, namely the Body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. But Cardinal Martini was trying to go beyond technicalities and believed the Church should occupy herself with resolving complicated family conditions especially in the light that if the situation remains as it stands it would lose the “allegiance of future generations.”  Can we imagine what the offspring of parents who cannot participate in the sacraments would think of the Church?

Divorce was not the only issue he thought needed urgent attention, but also in order to fight against the empty churches and the weariness of the Church there was a need for "radical transformation, beginning with the Pope and his bishops".  He also referred to the need of undergoing transformation in relation to the child sex-abuse that has recently hit the Church. Agreed, the church is run by human beings, and being human one is subject to misbehavior, however  the Cardinal was not condemning the erring humans but strongly suggesting there is room for improvement, at the very least, try to transform.

Albino Luciani

He also had not much admiration for the vestments used by the church which he considered to be “pompous” echoing Albino Luciani, the pope for 33 days who, as soon as he became pope said quite distressed, just look how they dressed me up! Or words to that effect.

But where Cardinal Martini gained the empathy of many Catholics was his stand on contraception, since he did not share the Church’s prohibitive view on this which he believed drove many Catholics away. And those who stayed, as one parent confessed, “used our common sense about it,” inferring that most Catholics used condoms and birth control pills without considering it a sin… and in effect I’ve often asked myself the same question, is it? By the use of birth control whose life are you in effect harming?

Cardinal Martini reminds me of one of his predecessors Saint Robert Bellarmaine who, as Cardinal, at the start of the 17^th century, tried to negotiate peace between the Vatican and his personal friend Galileo Galilei, over the scientist's insistence that not only the earth, but the entire universe, revolved around the sun. But he was not successful, like Martini, he too, was not able to convince the Vatican on certain issues of the day.

Now that Cardinal Martini is dead and buried some Catholics may draw a sigh of relief, but that is merely burying your head under the sand, the problems still remain for Catholic men and women… what? Did I mention women? Again that’s another sore subject the Cardinal brought up… but it’s the last one to be considered… women have taken a back seat for a long time in the Church, they will continue to do so, I no doubt.