Archbishop Romero on sainthood track: 'Overwhelming joy' in El Salvador

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Archbishop Romero on sainthood track: 'Overwhelming joy' in El Salvador

By NICHOLAS PHILLIPS AND TRACY WILKINSON

Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2015 Updated 2 hours ago

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — When Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot to death as he said Mass, Danlio Macias' family mourned as if one of their own relatives had been killed.

"I see these photos," Macias said, eyes red with tears as he visited the site of Romero's murder, now a small museum, "and all the trauma comes back."

Romero was slain 35 years ago next month in a hospital chapel here in the capital of El Salvador by a sniper acting on the orders of right-wing forces that - with U.S. backing - would wage war against leftist guerrillas for more than a decade.

Pope Francis this week took the most significant step yet toward proclaiming Romero a saint. On Tuesday, he recognized the late archbishop of San Salvador, 62 at the time of his death, as a martyr, killed because of "hatred" of his Roman Catholic faith.

It had been a matter of dispute among more conservative factions of the church. Many of Romero's foes argued he was killed for his politics, not his religion. In fact, Romero only slowly came to oppose the government, siding strongly with the poor and pronouncing shortly before he was killed that soldiers who were slaughtering civilians should not obey orders that go against their God.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/04/4530317_archbishop-romero-on-sainthood.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

[vlakitti]

1. Really great news!

I am impressed by the direction this Pope (and the world) seem to be moving these days.......

[Judi Lynn]

4. So far more like a Pope with a REAL conscience. n/t

[msongs]

2. it's better than food or shelter, thanks a lot! nt

[Judi Lynn]

3. Archbishop Romero lost his life defending the poor being slaughtered by the right-wing gov't.

Trying to be cocky over a subject like this comes off poorly.

[gopiscrap]

8. Thank you

Romero is one of my heros. I ran for Congress based on my Reps. continual voting for funding for the SOA (Ft. Bening, Georgia) (the place where assassins were trained to go back and kill their fellow citizens) of which Romero was a victim.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Courageous position to make publicly. The US has kept the country unaware of the atrocities

these soldiers are taught to create to keep their right-wing, U.S.-supported, US-based corporation-serving heads of state in business selling out the interests of their countries.

Romero knew exactly who was behind this when he directed his unanswered pleas for help to Washington.

Congratulations on standing on your principles in running for office. That's rare, as we know.

[gopiscrap]

12. Thank you it was one of the defining years of my life

During that race I had a case dealing with my yard signs and the use of them go to the Washington State Supreme Court which I won 9-0.

[shrike]

5. A true hero, whether you share his faith or not

Not the kind of guy to be snarky about; save it for a more deserving target.

[pnwmom]

7. He was a leftist who was killed for speaking out for the poor, and against government practices

that were hurting them. Most people in El Salvador felt a great sense of gratitude and loss, even if you think he did nothing.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Former Enemies Praise Salvadoran Archbishop Romero

Former Enemies Praise Salvadoran Archbishop Romero

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Feb 4, 2015, 2:40 PM ET
By MARCOS ALEMAN Associated Press

Associated Press

Archbishop Oscar Romero was labeled in life as a communist agitator and killed on a church altar at the start of El Salvador's civil war.

Even before Pope Francis declared Romero a martyr, his former opposition praised him as a social activist, promising to build a monument to him in the capital's center if they win the mayor's seat.

Edwin Zamora, mayoral candidate for the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance, known as Arena, last week promised to erect the Romero monument if he wins the March 1 election. He said the archbishop "belongs to all Salvadorans." But he was silent on Wednesday, one day after Francis declared Romero a martyr killed out of hatred for his Catholic faith. The move clears the way for Romero to be beatified as early as this year, another step on the path to sainthood.

Zamora's earlier announcement was supported at the time by his party's president, Jorge Velado, who called Romero "a historical leader of the country, a leader for Catholics, because he was our guide and the head of our church."

Gunmen shot Romero while he celebrated Mass on March 24, 1980. He had been outspoken about the military's repression as El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war got under way.

~ snip ~

"Who is going to believe them, if here the right always attacked him," said Alejandro Centeno, a 60-year-old worker who visited the city cathedral to celebrate. "I remember everything they said about the monsignor, the death squads that threatened him and killed him."

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/enemies-hop-salvador-archbishop-romero-bandwagon-28723320

[Judi Lynn]

10. Why it’s such a big deal that Oscar Romero was declared a martyr by Pope Francis

Why it’s such a big deal that Oscar Romero was declared a martyr by Pope Francis
By Elahe Izadi February 5 at 1:38 PM

Pope Francis's declaration of Archbishop Oscar Romero as a martyr has been met with an outpouring of emotions in the slain priest's native El Salvador, where he is a revered figure and where wounds of a war that started soon after his 1980 assassination remain fresh.

In Romero's home town, Ciudad Barrios, churches blasted music and people set off fireworks upon this week's announcement, La Prensa Grafica reported.

"It is an overwhelming joy,” said Gregorio Rosa Chavez, a Romero disciple and auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, the Los Angeles Times reported. "A lot of us said, 'We’re never going to see this happen.'. . . Well today, we’re seeing it happen, bendito sea Dios (thank God)."

For many Salvadorans, the designation had been a long time coming. Francis made the declaration after years of theological questioning as to whether Romero died for his religion or for political reasons, as well as opposition among some in the church.

Romero's path to becoming an outspoken advocate of the poor ended with his 1980 assassination, ordered by right-wing officials. He had been celebrating Mass when a gunman shot him in the heart. His death became a pivotal point at the start of El Salvador's bloody 12-year civil war, which left about 75,000 people dead.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/02/05/why-its-such-a-big-deal-that-oscar-romero-was-declared-a-martyr-by-pope-francis/?tid=hpModule_04941f10-8a79-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e

[Judi Lynn]

11. Robert White:Diplomat who served in El Salvador but angered many by speaking out on human rights abu

Robert White: Diplomat who served in El Salvador but angered many by speaking out on human rights abuses in the country

White's views cost him his career but earned him the respect of many Salvadorans and the vindication of history

Friday 06 February 2015


In 1980, when El Salvador was erupting in guerrilla war and military violence, the Carter administration sent a little-known Foreign Service officer as its new ambassador, hoping he could help the US-backed government find a reformist middle ground. Instead, Robert White became an outspoken critic of the assassinations and massacres being carried out by US-trained military units and private right-wing death squads. His views cost him his career but earned him the respect of many Salvadorans and the vindication of history.

His brief tenure in San Salvador was marked by atrocities such as the assassination of Catholic Archbishop Óscar Romero in March 1980 while he was saying Mass in the national cathedral, and the abduction and killing that December of four American women, two church workers, a nun and a lay missionary.

Whiteworked to promote human rights, economic reforms and political negotiations between leftist rebels and El Salvador's junta. But he found himself at loggerheads with the rightist military and establishment, which had powerful allies in Washington and Miami.

White began denouncing security abuses in diplomatic cables, then in interviews and congressional testimony. He called the right-wing leader Roberto D'Aubuisson a "pathological killer" and accused him of orchestrating the execution of Romero. White also accused the Salvadoran national guard of murdering the four American women, two of whom he had dined with the night before their disappearance. He was there when the women's bodies were dug up, and said angrily, "This time the bastards won't get away with it."

More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/robert-white-diplomat-who-served-in-el-salvador-but-angered-many-by-speaking-out-on-human-rights-abuses-in-the-country-10027275.html

[AngryOldDem]

13. He is just as deserving, if more so, than JP II.

I was really thrilled to hear this.

ON EDIT:

I'm not a prayerful person, but this prayer of Archbishop Romero is perhaps the best answer to all of today's ills:

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/archbishop_romero_prayer.cfm