In praise of … Carlo Maria Martini

A truth uttered from beyond the grave has a particular resonance, and the publication of a last interview with Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, one of the Catholic church's most popular and provocative liberal critics, ought to have the Vatican anxiously sucking its teeth. The cardinal, a former archbishop of Milan, where his funeral was held yesterday , used his last testament to highlight the decline in the number of Catholic faithful and to suggest the explanation lay with the church's reluctance to respond to reality and to their needs. Although principally a biblical scholar, his writings challenged the official lines on contraception and divorce, and also raised the possibility of married priests and the ordination of women. The contrast with the Vatican, whose hopelessly dusty priorities have just been revealed by the announcement of a new academy for the teaching of Latin , is stark. The liberal cause will miss Cardinal Martini.