Cardinal Martini, Archbishop of Milan, was called many deserving titles. I prefer to call him a listener to the word of God, which helped him to become a modern Father of the Church – a point of reference to many Christians, other believers and non-believers regarding spiritual and existential questions facing consciences and the Church.
Martini’s style of shepherding the people of God was not appreciated by all
Listening to the word became for him the measuring rod with which he analysed and confronted every dimension of the belief of his personal life and the events of ecclesial, civil and religious life.
Through this listening he was gifted with a transperancy, a liberty and sincerety which were outstandingly remarkable.
To understand and appreciate Martini, it is not enough to know what he said at his closing year of his life. One has to take a look at his pastoral style throughout the 22 years of his epscopate.
Martini was a biblical scholar. In 1969 he succeeded Cardinal Bea as rector of the Biblicum, the Biblical Institute run by the Jesuits in Rome. It was there that Carol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, came to know him. In 1978 Martini became rector of the prestigious Gregorian University of Rome. It was also the year Cardinal Wojtyla was elected Pope.
It was John Paul II who made a most surprising choice in 1979 when he chose Martini as Archbishop of Milan, one of the largest dioceses in the Church. The choice surprised clergy and laity in general as well as lay public opinion. Martini made his objections but John Paul II reaffirmed his decision.
Those years were a time of contestation and violence in Italy. Martini’s pastoral inauguration on February 10, 1980 was vey simple. He came on foot from the Castello Sforzesco holding the Gospel. The occasion was marked by biblical readings, meditations and silence.
In his first year as archbishop, Martini started springing surprises. In October 1980 he started the School of the Word, a weekly appointment in Milan’s Duomo (cathedral) to meditate events in the light of the Bible. The Duomo once a week was filled with people, especially youth.
A month before, Martini issued his first pastoral letter. It was titled “Contemplation in the City”, and dealt with the contemplative dimension of life. A year later he issued a pastoral letter on the Word of God.
Early in 1982, a time of rising unemployment, Martini instituted a solidarity fund for families without work.
On February 2, 1983 Martini was made a cardinal and a general relator in the Episcopal Synod on reconciliation and penance in the life of the Church.
Martini entered in contact with many categories in Milan even with those who believed in violence. These contacts came into the open when on April 13, 1984 he went to the prison chapel of San Vittore to baptise Nicola and Fiorenza, twins born in prison to Chicco Gebnozzi and Giulia Borelli, belonging to Prima Linea and the Comitati Comunisti Combattenti. It was a sign of the cardinal’s interest in those involved in terrorism in those dark days.
Already during Christmas 1982 and 1983 he preferred to celebrate that feast in the open, and not in the Duomo, in Piazza Filangieri.
Those contacts were very effective. It was no surprise when on June 13, 1984 three sacks full of arms arrived at the cardinal’s house accompanied by a letter written by the radical priest Ernesto Balducci. Those arms were surrendered by ex-terrorists as a sign of dialogue and against violence.
1984 was the centenary year of St Charles Borromeo, the 16th century Archbishop of Milan. Commemorating the work done by the saint during the plague of Milan of 1576, Martini stated that modern Milan had three kinds of plague: the plague of violence, the plague of solitude and the plague of corruption. Martini was playing the role of San Carlo, who was called Defensor Civitatis, Defender of the City. He was also considered Defensor Pauperum, Defender of the Poor.
But Martini’s style of shepherding the people of God was not appreciated by all. Both inside and outside the Church there were voices of criticism. At the Church Convention in Loreto, Martini succeeded in putting social political questions directly on the agenda. Because of this, some accused him of solidarism. The same accusation was heard when he took part in a public forum on Ethics, Economics and Industrial Choices at the prestigious Bocconi University in Milan.
During 1986 Martini widened his circle of preaching the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius in many countries: Zambia, Brazil, Kenya, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Hong Kong. His books became bestsellers in all languages. In the same year Martini became president of the Conference of European Catholic Bishops, while Bishop, and later Patriarch, Alexei was president of Anglican and Protestant and Orthodox Bishops of Europe.
Martini and Alexei got together and organised a very successful ecumenical assembly at Basle, Switzerland, in March 1989 on Justice, Peace and Safeguarding of Creation. It was the first time that Christians of all churches met together after five centuries – 700 delegates, half of them Catholics, from Europe, 118 Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant delegates from 26 countries, and 10,000 observers and visitors came to Basle for the occasion.
To be concluded.