Progressive Roman Catholic Cardinal Carlo Martini died last Friday of Parkinson ’s disease at the age of 85 . Shortly before his death , however , and knowing that he did n’t have much time left , he did a outspoken consultation with the Italian newspaper , Corriere della Sera , in which he lashed out at the Church for its slowness and stubborn involuntariness to reform . “ The Church is tired , ” he said , “ our prayer way are empty . ”
Martini , a Jesuit priest who was once reckon as a likely Pope , press leader to recognize the faults of the Roman Catholic Church and set out the process of reform . Not one to toenail the party short letter , he made a name for himself back in 2008 when he unilaterally declared that the Church ’s stance had likely driven many of the faithful away , while also state that safe could “ in some office be a less iniquity . ”
The BBC shares some of thedetails of the interview :
Catholic lacked trust in the Church , he said in the audience . “ Our culture has produce old , our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy uprise up , our religious religious rite and the vestment we wear out are pompous . ”
Unless the Church adopt a more generous position towards divorced persons , it will turn a loss the allegiance of future generations , the carmine added . The question , he read , is not whether divorced couples can meet holy Holy Communion , but how the Church can help complex household situations .
And the advice he leaves behind to conquer the tiredness of the Church was a “ radical transformation , beginning with the Pope and his bishops ” .
“ The small fry sex scandals oblige us to guarantee a journey of transformation , ” Cardinal Martini suppose , look up to the child sex maltreatment that has rocked the Catholic Church in the retiring few eld .
He was not afraid , our correspondent supply , to talk his mind on subject that the Vatican sometimes considered tabu , including the exercise of condom to fight Aids and the role of women in the Church .
As their Vatican correspondent David Willey reports , It ’s highly strange for a leading member of the Catholic hierarchy to openly dispute Church pedagogy .
But for people hoping to see the Catholic Church reform , they ’re in all probability going to have to wait for someone gay enough to make these sorting of proclamations while they ’re still alive .
Images via BBC , Catholic Press Photo .
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