Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini

BBC

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, reports the BBC.

Thousands of people have been filing past his coffin in Milan, where he was archbishop for more than 20 years.

The widely respected cardinal - a member of the Jesuit religious order - was often outspoken in his writings and comments on Church teaching, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

He was a courageous and outspoken figure during the 22 years he headed Europe's largest Catholic diocese, our correspondent says.