The only Word

On September 3 in the dome of Milan were held the funeral services of late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan, died at 85 on Friday August 31st in Gallarate (MI, Italy). The Mass, presided over by the present Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola, was co-officiated by 9 cardinals, 39 bishops and 1200 priests. Civil authorities, including Italian Premier Mario Monti, 4 ministers, former Prime Minister Romano Prodi, 30 MPs and 35 mayors from all over Italy attended the funeral along with over 15 thousand people who convened in Piazza Duomo, while 6 thousand faithful gathered in prayer inside the church.For the greater glory of God. "He was a man of God who not only studied Sacred Scripture but loved it intensely. He made it the light of his life so that all things might be ‘ad maiorem Dei gloriam’, for the greater glory of God". Thus states a passage from the message sent by His Holiness Benedict XVI in the afternoon, read during the funeral rites by Cardinal Angelo Comastri. For the Pontiff, Cardinal Martini "was able to teach believers and those in search of the truth that the only Word worth listening to, accepting and obeying is God’s, because it points out to everyone the path of truth and love". And Cardinal Martini was such "with great openness of mind, never refusing to meet and converse with anyone, giving a practical response to the Apostle’s invitation: ‘always be prepared to make a defence to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you’. He was such with a profound spirit of pastoral charity, according to his episcopal motto, Pro veritate adversa diligere, attentive to all situations, especially those that were more difficult, lovingly close to those who had strayed, who were in a situation of poverty or suffering".Beggars of Christ. "We have been summoned here around the distinguished figure of this man of the Church to express our overwhelming gratitude", said cardinal Angelo Scola in his homily for the exequies. Card. Martini, the prelate recalled, "did not leave an explicitly spiritual will. His legacy is his life is his magisterium, which we must continue drawing from". According to His Eminence, "entrusting to the Father this beloved shepherd means to assume the full responsibility of believing more than ever in this Year of the Faith and in the responsibility of bearing witness to Christian faith. Our beloved cardinal asks us to become, with him, the beggars of Christ". This is the "great legacy of Cardinal Carlo Maria" – said Cardinal Scola – "he strived not to lose anyone and no one. He led his life in abidance to the Eucharist, in the faith of resurrection. He incessantly sought to embrace the entire human person and mankind as a whole. And he was able to do so precisely because of his deeply-rooted unfaltering certainty that Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, is forever offered to everyone’s freedom". The shepherd we now entrust to the Father, pointed out cardinal Scola, "loved his people, to whom he devoted himself until the last moments of his life. I cherished the preciousness of his counsel over this past year, until our last affectionate interview, a week before his death". "He instilled into the redeeming, wholesomely pastoral approach of his ministry – he added – his scriptural scholarship, his awareness of contemporary realities, his availability towards everyone, his sensitivity for ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, the care for the poor and the needy, the quest for paths of reconciliation for the good of the Church and for civil society".A point of reference. At the end of the funeral Mass Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan, successor of Martini at the metropolitan see, said: "He was for me and for many others a point of reference in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, to read the present times and dream the future, tracing the paths for the evangelizing mission of the Church in loving and obedient docility to the Lord". "Cardinal Martini – continued Cardinal Tettamanzi – welcomed me as his successor to the see of St. Ambrose and St. Carl, and passing the pastoral baton he said: ‘You’ll see how heavy it is!’" His Eminence was thus perceivably moved: "It’s hard for me to speak but I will try to be the voice of this Church of which he in the name of the Lord, has been the father, shepherd, servant, intercessor, witness to the truth of God and the dignity of the human person". Cardinal Tettamanzi thus recalled the "smile" and the "words" of Cardinal Martini, how he "knelt on our weaknesses", "and was capable of far-sightedness", his faith "in the days of joys and suffering" and the "art of listening and instilling hope to everyone".