Vatican theologians have decreed that Archbishop Oscar Romero died a martyr in a move that makes his beatification increasingly likely.
According to Avvenire, the Italian Bishops’ Conference weekly, a commission of theologians at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously that the late Salvadoran archbishop was killed in “hatred of the faith”.
Archbishop Romero was shot dead by individuals colluding with the then government on 24 March 1980. Romero had been a vocal critic of the ruling elite in El Salvador for their record on human rights and the poor. His cause was first opened in 1994, moved to Rome three years later, but was then held up while the orthodoxy of his preaching was examined and over debates about whether he had been killed for political or religious reasons.
Now it is up to the congregation, led by Cardinal Angelo Amato SDB, to make their recommendation to the Pope. Sources close to the process, however, said the Romero’s beatification is likely to be formally announced in the coming months.
In 2013 under Pope Francis, an admirer of Romeo, the late archbishop’s cause was declared “unblocked” and has moved forward rapidly over the last 20 months.
At this week’s Wednesday General Audience Pope Francis quoted him on “maternal martydom.” The Pope said: “In his [Romero’s] homily at the funeral of a priest killed by death squads, he said, echoing the Second Vatican Council, 'We must all be willing to die for our faith, even if the Lord does not grant us this honour...”
And on the plane returning from Korea last August the Francis said theologians needed to clarify whether martyrdom “is for confessing the credo or for performing the works that Jesus commands us to do for our neighbour.”
Archbishop Romero was Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977-80 and is already honoured in Anglican liturgical calendar and one Lutheran one. He is depicted as one of the martyrs of the 20th century outside Westminster Abbey.
Loading ...
