The funeral of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini on September 3 started with the opening of the Gospel on the page narrating the Resurrection. This was the theme of the readings and the homily by Cardinal Angelo Scola, who succeeded Martini as Archbishop of Milan, who said: “Cardinal Martini, who often announced and studied the resurrection, is now in God’s kingdom.”

Cardinal Angelo Comastri represented Pope Benedict XVI, a long-time friend of Martini, at the funeral. He read the Pope’s message where Martini was described as “an indefatigable servant of the Gospel and the Church” and a “generous pastor”.

These noble words came to life through the vox populi, the voice of the people, who filled the august Gothic Duomo and half the piazza. Despite the inclement weather, 200,000 people queued outside to pay their last respects to an archbishop whose imprint is still deep in our hearts.

Quite rightly, the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera, which for several days dedicated several pages to Martini, came out the next day with a large bold headline: Milano piange Martini ‘pastore generoso’ (Milan mourns Martini, ‘generous pastor’).

The passing away of Martini is a great loss for the Church. He was not only “a generous man”, but above all a man of God, of prayer, a lover of the poor, open for the signs of the times and “a good shepherd”, on the model of St Ambrose, patron of the Church of Milan, and of St Charles Borromeo.

However, he will be remembered as a modern Father of the Church, whose goal in life was to live to the full the spirit of the word of God. He was one of theworld’s foremost biblical scholars, acknowledged also by Protestant and Jewish scholars.

As Rector of the Biblicum and the Gregorian Pontifical Universities, the Jesuit Padre Martini (as he used to be called) was always close to the poor. Wearing a shirt and a pair of jeans, he used to help look after the poor with the community of San Egidio. “His humility,” said the superior of the Bible Institute in Jerusalem, where he lived for five years, “is what the people remember him for”.

When Blessed John Paul II chose Martini as the new Archbishop of Milan, despite the Jesuit vow not to accept bishoprics, he humbly said he knew nothing about runninga diocese, in this case the largest one in the world.

Fr Bartolomeo Sorge, SJ (whom Pope John Paul I had wanted to appoint Patriarch of Venice), said Martini’s appointment was in a way a disappointment to the 18,000 Jesuits around the world, who wanted him to become their Father-General, or ‘Black Pope’ as he is known. Fr Sorge said: “Martini is an example of a free and awkward man for some. He had the word of God and he did not need diplomacy. He was ready to bemuse those in power, inside and outside the church. A trait all Jesuits should have.” (La Repubblica, September 4).

However, he had the gift of communication and he could give life to the words of the Gospel. When he spoke, you felt as if Christ himself was talking to you.

Martini also had the gift of listening and he was pleased when in a book I wrote I referred to listening as “the eighth sacrament”. It is true, as John Paul II said, that “only God knows the mystery there is in the heart of man”.

However, through his empathic listening, you felt that Martini was reading your heart. He never evaded any thorny question and gave his views on many theological questions about ethics, euthanasia, contraception and AIDS, gay marriage, divorce,married clergy, women priests and so on.

Again, according to Fr Sorge, “he was indeed a prophet. Prophets are treated with scorn when alive and canonised when they die.”

This is indeed what happened two days after Martini’s death on August 31, when Corriere della Sera published his last interview: “The Church is behind by 200 years. It does not shake, is it because we are afraid?”

This interview, given on August 8, has made the rounds all over the world. It’s more of a last spiritual testament. The cardinal read and approved the text of his two friends (Fr Georg Sporschill, SJ, and Fr Radice Fossati).

It shows his deep devotion to the Church, his loyalty to the Pope and as a free pastor he seems atrue prophet.

This is why some, even churchmen, frowned when he said: “The Church is tired in affluent Europe and America. Our culture has aged, our churches are great, our religious houses are empty and the bureaucratic machinery of the Church is weak, our rites and dress are too pompous. However, do all these things show what we are?”

This is indeed a prophetictestament, which will remain for future generations.

As expected from a great lover of scripture, Martini gives us hope in the word of God.

Only “if we live by the wordof God we can renew the Church and we can learn how to respond to the personal questions. The word of God is simple andseeks as a companion a heart which listens.”

Martini listened with love to all, especially to non-believers and also criminals.

He was in touch with the Red Brigades and it was to him that one of them consigned three large bags filled with weapons.

For non-believers he established the ‘Cattedra dei Non-Credenti’, where he freely let non-believers express their doubts and also their criticism of the Church.

He was never dogmatic, authoritarian or spoke ex cathedra. He said: “In my heart there is the believer and the non-believer”. How right he was!

There are many personal memories of this great pastor as I write, such as the times he came to San Raffaele Hospital as a patient, and so many other gems.

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