# Church 200 years behind says Cardinal Carlo Martini **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368 "2012-09-01T15:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/1 "2012-09-01T15:21:13Z")
\*Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini has described the Roman Catholic Church as being “200 years behind” the times. \*\*The cardinal died on Friday, aged 85. \*\* Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has published his last interview, recorded in August, in which Cardinal Martini says: “The Church is tired… our prayer rooms are empty.” Martini, once tipped as a future pope, urged the Church to recognise its errors and to embark on a radical path of change, beginning with the Pope.\* BBC [link.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19451439) ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/2 "2012-09-01T15:25:41Z")
Not surprising that he was a Jesuit. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/3 "2012-09-01T16:58:37Z")
only 200 years…that’s an improvement. It took 400 years to pardon Galileo ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/4 "2012-09-01T17:04:26Z")
That’s a decent ballpark estimate. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/5 "2012-09-01T17:35:35Z")
> [@Indian](#): > > - urged the Church to recognise its errors and to embark on a radical path of change, beginning with the Pope.\* If only he had thought to make 95 tweets on the subject of reform before he died. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/6 "2012-09-02T02:08:39Z")
> [@Indian](#): > > _Martini, once tipped as a future pope, urged the Church to recognise its errors and to embark on a radical path of change…_ Yea, that path would be “Science”. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/7 "2012-09-02T02:09:02Z")
God bless him. It’s probably lucky for him that he died. He’d have been demoted and sent to be the Bishop of the Diocese of Bumfuck, Outer Boondocks. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/8 "2012-09-02T02:50:13Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Yea, that path would be “Science”. To be fair, the Catholic church has been more supportive of science than many other mainstream churches, like in the case of evolution and the origins of the universe; but yeah, in many other matters it has been painfully slow to change. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/9 "2012-09-05T17:43:09Z")
\*\*Church 200 years behind says Cardinal Carlo Martini \*\* Really? When did they get dragged into the 19th Century from the 14th Century? ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-200-years-behind-says-cardinal-carlo-martini/633368/10 "2012-09-05T18:05:54Z")
That would have been [1962](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council).