Benedict XVI sent a message to the archbishop of Milan offering condolences upon the death of Cardinal Carlo Martini, who passed today at age 85.
The cardinal had been ill with Parkinson’s for some years.
The Holy Father noted how the cardinal lived his lengthy illness “in serenity of soul and trustful abandonment to the will of the Lord.”
He assured his own “deep participation” in the sorrow of those mourning the Torino native.
Carlo Martini was ordained a priest of the Society of Jesus in 1952, when he was 25 years old. He served as archbishop of Milan from 1979 until his retirement in 2002; he was named a cardinal in 1983.
The Pontiff said he thinks “fondly of this dear brother who generously served the Gospel and the Church. I remember with gratitude his intense apostolic work, which he generously carried out as a zealous religious and spiritual son of St. Ignatius, an exceptional teacher, authoritative biblical scholar and esteemed rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and then as a diligent and wise archbishop of this Ambrosian Archdiocese. I also think of the competent and fervent service he rendered to the Word of God, by opening to the ecclesial community the treasures of sacred Scripture, especially through the promotion of lectio divina.”
The Pope assured his prayers so that God “might welcome His faithful servant and noble shepherd into the heavenly Jerusalem.”
VATICAN CITY, AUG. 31, 2012 (Zenit.org)