I had long hoped that the now deceased Cardinal Martini would be pope. However, that was not to be due to the radical conservative turn that the Church took under John Paul II and his own poor health. However he offered up some powerful words before he died.
"Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous," Martini said in the interview published in Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
"The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the pope and the bishops. The pedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation," he said in the interview.
I grew up Catholic and saw the very good works that many Catholics do. I also know the power the Church wields and the things it fights against. The title of the article on NBC News is "
In final interview, liberal Cardinal says Church 200 years out of date."
I'm not sure there are any Liberal voices in the College of Cardinals anymore. I'm not sure there are any liberal voices left in the Vatican. I hope some of the clergy will read his words and think on what he was saying. I doubt it but sometimes a lone voice can be louder than a mob screaming. The Church needs to hear Cardinal Martini's words and heed them.