La visione morale di Carlo Maria Martini

Abstract

The article aims to capture the distinguishing characteristics of the moral vision of Carlo Maria Martini, gathering from his more personal writings, whose value, rather than the authority of the magisterial role, is given by the authoritativeness of man. Without having proposed his thought in a systematic and complete shape, in its texts Martini envisages points of reference that define the horizon within which to place the current problems and moral criteria of discernment that enable it to deal with them. In this article they are gathered in three areas: the first, more fundamental, concerns the relationship between christian faith and moral life; the other two, more specifically, relate to the fields of bioethics and sexual ethics. Given the complexity of today’s moral problems, the distinction between good and evil does not appear clearly and immediately as the difference between black and white, but involves gray areas; within these gray areas only the patient discernment of personal conscience, under the guidance of the Spirit, instructed by the moral law and in critical dialogue with cultural and scientific scopes, allows you to make the best possible choice.