Oscar Romero on the path to sainthood

AFTER DECADES of debate within the Church, Pope Francis has formally recognised that Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed “in hatred of the faith” and not for purely political reasons. Francis signed the decree on 3 February, recognising as martyrdom the 24 March 1980 assassination of Archbishop Romero in a San Salvador hospital chapel as he celebrated Mass.

The decree clears the way for the beatification of Archbishop Romero. The postulator or chief promoter of his sainthood cause, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, briefed the press about the cause on Wednesday.

Archbishop Paglia said Romero “transformed himself into a ‘defensor civitatis’ following the tradition of the ancient Fathers of the Church, defending the persecuted clergy, protecting the poor and affirming human rights”.

Archbishop Romero’s sainthood cause was opened at the Vatican in 1993, but was delayed for years as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith studied his writings, amid debate over whether he had been killed for his faith or for taking political positions against the government and death squads operating in El Salvador at the time. The beatification ceremony will take place in the Salvador del Mundo Plaza in the capital, San Salvador. No date has yet been announced.

Pope Francis also signed a decree recognising the martyrdom of two Polish Conventual Franciscans and an Italian missionary priest who were murdered by Shining Path guerrillas in Peru in 1991.
(See Julian Filochowski, page 15.)