.- Vatican analyst Sandro Magister of the Italian web magazine L’Espresso will publish an extensive critique on Wednesday of the controversial book by Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the Archbishop Emeritus of Milan, entitled, “Nocturnal Conversations in Jerusalem. On the Risks of Faith.”
The book, which was written in an interview style with German Jesuit Georg Sporschill, was presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October, and since then it has attracted the attention of the secular press because of Cardinal Martini’s criticism of the post-conciliar Popes—from Paul VI to Benedict XVI—accusing them of contributing to “regression” in the Church.
Martini not only slams Humanae Vitae, but also questions some fundamental aspects of the Church’s faith.
Magister points out that the book has not been criticized by the Italian Bishops’ newspaper “Avvenire” or by the L’Osservatore Romano.
However, he said, “in private there is harsh and worried criticism of the book’s authors at the highest levels of the hierarchy.”
“But in public the rule is to remain silent. The fear is that publicly responding to the book’s thesis only makes the damage worse,” Magister adds.
Nevertheless, Pietro De Marco, professor of the University of Firenze and of the School of Theology of Central Italy, issued a measured but consistent critique of the book by Cardinal Martini.
Magister will publish the entire critique by Professor De Marco in his article this Wednesday at http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/?eng=y
