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| Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who has died aged 85, was a divisive figure within Roman Catholicism. For those many Catholics who wish to see thoroughgoing reform, especially in their church's stance on gender and sexuality, he was the best pope they never had. Throughout the 1990s, Martini, as archbishop of Milan, offered a nuanced, progressive and high-profile counter-balance to the moral conservatism of Pope John Paul II. To traditional Catholics, however, he was an extremist, willing to sacrifice the church's distinctive and time-honoured teaching in order to cosy up to contemporary social attitudes in the secular world. | Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who has died aged 85, was a divisive figure within Roman Catholicism. For those many Catholics who wish to see thoroughgoing reform, especially in their church's stance on gender and sexuality, he was the best pope they never had. Throughout the 1990s, Martini, as archbishop of Milan, offered a nuanced, progressive and high-profile counter-balance to the moral conservatism of Pope John Paul II. To traditional Catholics, however, he was an extremist, willing to sacrifice the church's distinctive and time-honoured teaching in order to cosy up to contemporary social attitudes in the secular world. |
| There was an element of caricature in both views. Though he believed that rules themselves could get in the way of faith – in 2007, he remarked: "The church does not give orders. It is necessary to listen to others, and when speaking to use terms that they understand" – Martini never advocated the throwing out of Catholicism's entire elaborate rulebook. So when he spoke in support of the use of condoms, for instance, as the "lesser evil" in preventing the spread of HIV/Aids, he was not, as sometimes portrayed, suggesting that the church's continuing (though widely ignored) prohibition on "artificial contraception" be abandoned completely by everybody. He was a strong supporter of the rights of women, including their ordination to the diaconate (one step short of the priesthood), but he did not demand that seminaries open their doors to all regardless of gender. | There was an element of caricature in both views. Though he believed that rules themselves could get in the way of faith – in 2007, he remarked: "The church does not give orders. It is necessary to listen to others, and when speaking to use terms that they understand" – Martini never advocated the throwing out of Catholicism's entire elaborate rulebook. So when he spoke in support of the use of condoms, for instance, as the "lesser evil" in preventing the spread of HIV/Aids, he was not, as sometimes portrayed, suggesting that the church's continuing (though widely ignored) prohibition on "artificial contraception" be abandoned completely by everybody. He was a strong supporter of the rights of women, including their ordination to the diaconate (one step short of the priesthood), but he did not demand that seminaries open their doors to all regardless of gender. |
| And however much his chances of being John Paul II's successor were talked up – by both admirers and detractors – in the real world it was never going to happen. Those who openly and prophetically position themselves well beyond the mainstream of Catholicism are hardly likely to win the support, in a papal conclave, of the necessary two-thirds of cardinal electors, especially when John Paul II, since arriving in the Vatican in 1978, had made a point of appointing mainly like-minded traditionalists to this upper echelon of the hierarchy. | And however much his chances of being John Paul II's successor were talked up – by both admirers and detractors – in the real world it was never going to happen. Those who openly and prophetically position themselves well beyond the mainstream of Catholicism are hardly likely to win the support, in a papal conclave, of the necessary two-thirds of cardinal electors, especially when John Paul II, since arriving in the Vatican in 1978, had made a point of appointing mainly like-minded traditionalists to this upper echelon of the hierarchy. |
| But just dreaming of the prospect of Martini as pope heartened many Catholics. John Paul's long papacy became ever more conservative as the Polish pontiff's health declined in the 1990s and into the first years of the new millennium. While the Vatican spent its time announcing what could not be tolerated – women priests, homosexuality, liberation theology – there was the archbishop of Milan, travelling the world, talking in positive terms of supporting families rather than banging on about abortion, and addressing the challenge of welcoming all into churches rather than barring from the sacraments those whose lives did not conform to official rules. | But just dreaming of the prospect of Martini as pope heartened many Catholics. John Paul's long papacy became ever more conservative as the Polish pontiff's health declined in the 1990s and into the first years of the new millennium. While the Vatican spent its time announcing what could not be tolerated – women priests, homosexuality, liberation theology – there was the archbishop of Milan, travelling the world, talking in positive terms of supporting families rather than banging on about abortion, and addressing the challenge of welcoming all into churches rather than barring from the sacraments those whose lives did not conform to official rules. |
| Martini never directly criticised John Paul – or the inner circle who eventually ran the papacy for him (including Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI). He was too subtle for that. But his disapproval was clear. He sometimes managed to couch it as a joke. So while Rome was working itself up into a lather to celebrate the millennium in 2000 as an opportunity for the world to return to the pews en masse, Martini gently pointed out (with his biblical scholar's hat on) that Jesus was in all probability born in 6BC, so we had already missed his anniversary. On another occasion, when John Paul in 1994 had forbidden Catholics even to discuss the question of female ordination in a new encyclical, Martini mischievously suggested that the prohibition only lasted for the current millennium – ie six years. | Martini never directly criticised John Paul – or the inner circle who eventually ran the papacy for him (including Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI). He was too subtle for that. But his disapproval was clear. He sometimes managed to couch it as a joke. So while Rome was working itself up into a lather to celebrate the millennium in 2000 as an opportunity for the world to return to the pews en masse, Martini gently pointed out (with his biblical scholar's hat on) that Jesus was in all probability born in 6BC, so we had already missed his anniversary. On another occasion, when John Paul in 1994 had forbidden Catholics even to discuss the question of female ordination in a new encyclical, Martini mischievously suggested that the prohibition only lasted for the current millennium – ie six years. |
| Born near Turin, Martini joined the Jesuits at the age of 17 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1952. He spent the next three decades as an academic, becoming rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1969, and of the whole Gregorian University that houses it in 1978. But the following year, in the first flush of his papacy, when his own opinions did not seem so fixed (at least not in public), John Paul appointed Martini to head Europe's largest archdiocese, Milan. | Born near Turin, Martini joined the Jesuits at the age of 17 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1952. He spent the next three decades as an academic, becoming rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1969, and of the whole Gregorian University that houses it in 1978. But the following year, in the first flush of his papacy, when his own opinions did not seem so fixed (at least not in public), John Paul appointed Martini to head Europe's largest archdiocese, Milan. |
| He remained in that role for 22 years and was widely admired within the archdiocese. He was made a cardinal in 1983. A natural leader among the Italian bishops, he served for six years (between 1987 and 1993) as president of the European Bishops' Conference. He also found time to produce a series of books, some academic but many more for a wider readership. He also wrote a monthly agony column for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. | He remained in that role for 22 years and was widely admired within the archdiocese. He was made a cardinal in 1983. A natural leader among the Italian bishops, he served for six years (between 1987 and 1993) as president of the European Bishops' Conference. He also found time to produce a series of books, some academic but many more for a wider readership. He also wrote a monthly agony column for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. |
| Martini was not an ivory-tower academic and, while he never served as a parish priest, he had the popular touch. Indeed, it was his overriding concern that the church should be speaking to and supporting the everyday lives and dilemmas of Catholics that shaped so much of his work and thinking. To that end, he was never keen on the dressing up that goes with being a cardinal, labelling clerics in their cassocks as "pompous". | Martini was not an ivory-tower academic and, while he never served as a parish priest, he had the popular touch. Indeed, it was his overriding concern that the church should be speaking to and supporting the everyday lives and dilemmas of Catholics that shaped so much of his work and thinking. To that end, he was never keen on the dressing up that goes with being a cardinal, labelling clerics in their cassocks as "pompous". |
| It is perhaps now easily forgotten that John Paul's health was always in question after the assassination attempt on him in 1981, which left him permanently debilitated, but while he soldiered on until 2005 despite the limitations placed on him by Parkinson's disease, Martini retired in 2002, after receiving the same diagnosis. | It is perhaps now easily forgotten that John Paul's health was always in question after the assassination attempt on him in 1981, which left him permanently debilitated, but while he soldiered on until 2005 despite the limitations placed on him by Parkinson's disease, Martini retired in 2002, after receiving the same diagnosis. |
| He lived out his final years first in Jerusalem at the Biblical Institute, returning to his studies, and latterly in Milan. It has been reported that, despite his ill-health, in the first round of voting for a successor to John Paul, Martini received more support than the eventual victor, Benedict XVI. He remained outspoken until the very end in the hope that the Church to which he gave his life would realise the urgency of reform. In an interview published after his death, he spoke more emphatically than was his habit in life of an institution of "empty churches" that is "200 years out of date" and in need of "transformation". It was one last try to get the message heard. | He lived out his final years first in Jerusalem at the Biblical Institute, returning to his studies, and latterly in Milan. It has been reported that, despite his ill-health, in the first round of voting for a successor to John Paul, Martini received more support than the eventual victor, Benedict XVI. He remained outspoken until the very end in the hope that the Church to which he gave his life would realise the urgency of reform. In an interview published after his death, he spoke more emphatically than was his habit in life of an institution of "empty churches" that is "200 years out of date" and in need of "transformation". It was one last try to get the message heard. |
| • Carlo Maria Martini, priest and biblical scholar, born 15 February 1927; died 31 August 2012 | • Carlo Maria Martini, priest and biblical scholar, born 15 February 1927; died 31 August 2012 |
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