'Pompous' and 'bureaucratic': Dying cardinal launches scathing attack on the Catholic Church in final interview before his death



Former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini died on Friday aged 85

He said the Church had failed to 'move with the times' as was '200 years out of date'



Told interviewers the Church should open up to new kinds of families or risk losing its flock

One of the most respected figures in the Catholic Church has launched a scathing attack on his fellow clergymen in a last ever interview published the day after his death.



The former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who died on Friday aged 85, said the Catholic Church was '200 years out of date'.



Martini, once favored by Vatican progressives to succeed Pope John Paul II and a prominent voice in the church, gave a scathing portrayal of a pompous and bureaucratic church failing to move with the times.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini lies in state at Milan cathedral. In his final interview before his death he criticised the Catholic Church for being 'pompous' and '200 years out of date'

Attack: Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, right, pictured with Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, launched a scathing critique of the church in his final interview before his death on Friday

'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.

In the last decade the Church has been accused of failing to fully address a series of child abuse scandals which have undermined its status as a moral arbiter, though it has paid many millions in compensation settlements worldwide.

Martini, famous for comments that the use of condoms could be acceptable in some cases, told interviewers the Church should open up to new kinds of families or risk losing its flock.

Much-loved: Thousands queue outside Milan Cathedral yesterday to pay their respects Cardinal Martini, who died aged 85

The current Archbishop of Milan Dionigi blesses the coffin of Cardinal Martini yesterday. In his last ever interview Martini said the Church must undergo a period of 'radical change' or risk losing its flock 'A woman is abandoned by her husband and finds a new companion to look after her and her children. A second love succeeds. If this family is discriminated against, not just the mother will be cut off but also her children.'

In this way 'the Church loses the future generation', Martini said in the interview, made a fortnight before he died.

The Vatican opposes divorce and forbids contraception in favor of fidelity within marriage and abstinence without. A liberal voice in the church, Martini's chances of becoming pope were damaged when he revealed he was suffering from a rare form of Parkinson's disease and he retired in 2002. In a letter marking Martini's death, Pope Benedict remembered him as a 'skilful teacher and preeminent biblical scholar,' and recalled his dedication to Christian works.

The coffin of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini is carried to Milan's cathedral on September 1, 2012. Martini had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for years and his condition had degenerated last week

Sombre: The casket containing Italian cardinal Carlo Maria Martini rests inside Milan's Duomo yesterday

Martini retired because of his age in 2002 after 22 years as head of the diocese, revealing at the same time that he was suffering from a form of Parkinson's disease, which hurt his chances of becoming pope three years later.

Pope John Paul II was instead succeeded in 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI, a hero of Catholic conservatives who is known by such critical epithets as 'God's rottweiler' because of his stern stand on theological issues.

Martini's final message to Pope Benedict was to begin a shake up of the Catholic church without delay.

'The church is 200 years out of date. Why don't we rouse ourselves? Are we afraid?'

Outspoken: Cardinal Martini's liberal opinions sometimes raised the hackles of Church conservatives

A Jesuit intellectual, Martini was reported to speak 11 languages. But his liberal opinions sometimes raised the hackles of Church conservatives.

He once told an interviewer that even issues as controversial as birth control and women priests could be seen in a different light in the future.

'Certainly the use of condoms in particular situations can constitute a lesser evil,' Martini said in an interview with the Italian magazine l'Espresso in 2006.

'There is the particular situation of married couples in which one of the spouses is affected by AIDS. This person has an obligation to protect the other partner and the other partner also has to protect him or herself.'

The Catholic Church, which runs many hospitals and institutions to help AIDS victims, opposes the use of condoms and teaches that fidelity within heterosexual marriage, chastity and abstinence are the best way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

It says promoting condoms to fight the spread of AIDS fosters what it sees as immoral and hedonistic lifestyles and behaviour that will only contribute to its spread.

Martini remained a prominent voice in the Church, and in May spoke out about the leaks scandal that led to the arrest of Pope Benedict's butler.

Martini appealed to Church leaders to 'urgently win back the trust of the faithful' after the scandal.

After he retired from the Milan post, he spent about six years in Jerusalem, returning to his first love - Biblical studies.

After he lost the ability to swallow around two weeks ago, Martini refused to be fed artificially, his neurologist Gianni Pezzoli said.

'We saw the inexorable consequences of his affliction, which progressively robbed him of speech, reducing it to a whisper that was barely audible, and of his movement,' said an article published on the Milan diocese's website.