The Keenly Aware Cardinal

From ” A Final Warning That the Pope Ignores at His Peril ,” a “cliches r us” leading article (or editorial) in the English newspaper  The Independent attacking the “authoritarian,” “hardline,” thought-suppressing Pope Benedict and praising the late Cardinal Martini:

 As Archbishop of Milan, the city from which the Emperor Constantine in 317 issued the historic edict proclaiming toleration for the Christian religion, Martini was keenly aware of the importance of maintaining the Church’s association with the broad currents of social and intellectual life in Europe – a partnership that lasted the best part of two millennia but which is dwindling to nothing.

So which of the two cardinals, Ratzinger or Martini, has had a serious public discussion with Europe’s leading philosopher Juergen Habermas? Which seems most up on the broad currents of social and intellectual life in Europe?

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