Cardinal Renato Martino passed away this fall on October 28. He is an old friend of Communion and Liberation to whom we owe gratitude and affection. But who was Renato Martino?

He had been the Apostolic Nuncio to Thailand and to Singapore, the Apostolic Delegate to Laos, Malaysia, Brunei, and then from 1986 to 2002 – when we crossed paths – he served as the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. He returned to Italy where he was made Cardinal, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and the President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. Yes, Cardinal Martino was “many things” but above and beyond all this he was a man of faith, action, and few words.

Because of her service at the Nunciature, Simonetta was the first among us to cross paths with him in 1995. A little while later Martino, constantly in action, turned to the Movement asking for stable help – a person who could act as a full-time assistant, not just as a volunteer. He was looking for someone he could count on and trust in the delicate and intense work of managing the Nunciature. And here begins the story of an increasingly lively relationship between the then Archbishop and the still rather small New York Communion and Liberation community. Small, yes, but open and lively.

In 1997, when Olivetta began to work at the Nunciature, the teeny-tiny CL US world was in a state of super excitement for the publication of a new edition of The Religious Sense. So, reaching far – as we had already begun to do the previous year by proposing the Way of the Cross over the Brooklyn Bridge – we came up with the crazy idea of ​​a presentation at the United Nations on the new edition of this book. Olivetta dared to throw it out there to Martino, who, being a “man of few words” responded with a laconic "I'm interested," which we knew meant “we’ll make it happen.”

And so began a common work made of frequent meetings with the Nuncio to imagine, realize, and promote this incredible, almost “impossible” event which took place on December 12, 1997 in the Dag Hammarskjöld Conference Hall.

The hall was packed with people from all walks of life, from diplomats to ordinary human beings. Cardinal Martino introduced and led the conference and later, that very same day, he hosted a grand dinner at the Nunciature for the panelists and organizers in what remains an unforgettable evening of gratitude, music, and above all, a friendship that would last for years to come. We partnered with him again in May 1999 with the presentation of At the Origin of the Christian Claim, just two days before Enzo Piccinini’s death.

Why did this man do it? He certainly understood the significance of what Giussani was saying, the universal power of his message and testimony, and was counting on us to reach Americans everywhere, which is exactly what happened in the months and years to follow with an infinite number of book presentations (big and small) all over the United States, planting the seed for the birth of dozens of new CL communities. And that is why Fr. Giussani himself called that event “a new beginning” for the life of the Movement. Cardinal Martino opened us up to a life of mission.

In God’s mysterious plan life and death intertwine. So the sadness for a friend who leaves us is overcome by the gratitude for the gift we received by knowing him and being part – at least a bit – of his work for the human glory of Christ.