Seven years a saint - Romero Doctor of the Church update

[ESPAÑOL]

It has been seven years since the canonization of St. Oscar Romero and since his successor, Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas, asked Pope Francis to open a process to make Romero a Doctor of the Church.

The sabbath year of Romero’s sainthood is our occasion to review developments in the movement to declare Romero a doctor. To be sure, no official cause has been opened in the Vatican to study the question: Vatican authorities deem the time premature to institute a formal process. There have been, however, signs that the idea is still percolating.

First, there have been explicit calls for a Romero doctor process from church officials. In addition to Archbishop Escobar, two other church leaders prominently advocated for the recognition.

• ·         The most prominent was Archbishop Leon Kalenga, the Congolese nuncio to El Salvador and later (importantly) Argentina, who promoted the cause in a speech to the Latin American Bishops’ Conference (CELAM).
• ·         Less high-ranking, but no less persevering, Fr. Bob Pelton convened seminars at Notre Dame University urging the study of Romero and promoting his doctor cause. 

Both Kalenga and Pelton have since passed away, but the Romero conferences – and the calls for the doctor recognition – continue. There is even a petition on Change.org to promote the cause.

Second, several theologians have also called for Romero to be declared a doctor.

• ·         Edgardo Colón-Emeric argued for Romero as a "pastoral doctor" in his Oscar Romero’s Theological Vision: Liberation and Transfiguration of the Poor. Notre Dame University Press, 2018. 
• ·         Michael Lee has written a chapter, “Oscar Romero: A Modern Pastoral Doctor.” New introduction to the 25th anniversary edition of Saint Óscar Romero: Voice of the Voiceless, The Four Pastoral Letters and Other Statements, with reflections by Jon Sobrino and Ignacio Martín-Baró. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2020.
• ·         John Thiede has a book coming out called Doctor of the Crucified People: The Theological Roots of Óscar Romero's Holy Witness, Fortress Press, 2026.

Third – and, perhaps, most tantalizing (though, also most speculative) – Romero keeps turning up in the papal magisterium (or magisterium-adjacent pronouncements).

• ·         Pope Francis, who quoted Romero throughout his pontificate, presented him as a resource for reference. As he informally told a group of young leaders from the Americas, “In Latin America we have a saint who knew these things well.” More formally, he told a gathering of Central American bishops that Romero’s “life and his teachings remain a source of inspiration for our Churches and, in a special way, for us as bishops” (emphasis added). He then analyzed several of the important concepts from Romero’s ministry he thought useful.
• ·         Pope Leo referenced Romero in his first magisterial document, the Apostolic Exhortation «Dilexi Te», released October 9, 2025. The Pontiff highlighted Romero’s martyrdom as one of the milestones in the development of the Latin American church’s social doctrine, noting that it was “an inspiration for the Church” that Romero made the poor “the center of his pastoral vision.” Notably, Romero was the only non-pope mentioned in the section of the document discussing the development of the social doctrine over the last 200 years. (This was Leo’s second reference to Romero in his five-month-old papacy, having also quoted him at a ceremony honoring 21st century martyrs.)
• ·         Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI had also discussed Romero in similar terms as Leo’s framework. John Paul had repeatedly called Romero a “zealous pastor” (here, here and here), consistent with Leo’s characterization that he “made his own the plight of the vast majority of his flock” and put them at the center of his ministry. Benedict had called Romero a pastor “full of love for God,” consistent with Leo’s letter on how love of God goes hand in hand with love of the poor.

The synthesis that quickly emerges from all these voices posits Romero as a pastoral doctor. Fr. Bob Pelton coined that term, having proposed Romero as “a Pastoral Doctor of the Universal Church.” Some of the theologians who have addressed the issue, like Edgardo Colón-Emeric and Michael Lee, have used the same terminology.

Interestingly, the popes may have been thinking along the same lines: From John Paul’s “zealous pastor,” to Benedict’s “pastors full of love,” to Francis formulation of a teacher of bishops, to Leo’s focus on Romero’s “pastoral vision,” these four successive popes all focus on Romero’s pastoral action as a point of convergence.

In sum, it is clear that, seven years after his canonization, St. Oscar Romero continues to be considered an important reference in the development of the social doctrine and in the pastoral praxis that accompanies it. Like Pope Francis before him, Pope Leo considers Romero a beacon of enlightenment for Latin American ecclesiology which he, in turn, considers “a true prophetic vision for the church today and tomorrow.”

Siete años de santidad - Actualización de Romero Doctor de la Iglesia

[ENGLISH]

Han pasado siete años desde la canonización de San Óscar Arnulfo Romero y desde que su sucesor, el arzobispo José Luis Escobar Alas, solicitó al Papa Francisco abrir un proceso para declarar a Romero un Doctor de la Iglesia.

El año sabático de la santidad de Romero nos brinda la oportunidad de revisar los avances del movimiento para declararlo doctor. Es cierto que no se ha abierto ninguna causa oficial en el Vaticano para estudiar la cuestión: las autoridades vaticanas consideran prematuro instituir un proceso formal. Sin embargo, ha habido indicios de que la idea aún se está gestando.

En primer lugar, ha habido llamados explícitos para un proceso que declare a Romero Doctor por parte de autoridades eclesiásticas. Además del arzobispo Escobar, otros dos eclesiásticos abogaron prominentemente por el reconocimiento.

• ·         El más destacado fue el arzobispo León Kalenga, nuncio congoleño en El Salvador y posteriormente (de manera importante) en Argentina, quien promovió la causa en un discurso ante la Conferencia Episcopal Latinoamericana (CELAM).
• ·         De menor rango, pero no menor perseverancia, el P. Bob Pelton convocó seminarios en la Universidad de Notre Dame para instar al estudio de Romero y promover su causa de doctor. 

Tanto Kalenga como Pelton ya fallecieron, pero las conferencias sobre Romero y los llamados para su reconocimiento siguen en pie. Incluso hay una petición en Change.org para promover la causa.

En segundo lugar, varios teólogos también han pedido que Romero sea declarado doctor.

• ·         Edgardo Colón-Emeric defendió a Romero como "doctor pastoral" en su libro Oscar Romero’s Theological Vision: Liberation and Transfiguration of the Poor ("La visión teológica de Óscar Romero: Liberación y transfiguración de los pobres".) Notre Dame University Press, 2018.
• ·         Michael Lee escribió un capítulo titulado Oscar Romero: A Modern Pastoral Doctor.” New introduction to the 25th anniversary edition of Saint Óscar Romero: Voice of the Voiceless, The Four Pastoral Letters and Other Statements, with reflections by Jon Sobrino and Ignacio Martín-Baró ("Óscar Romero: Un doctor pastoral moderno". Nueva introducción a la edición del 25.º aniversario de "San Óscar Romero: La voz de los sin voz, las cuatro cartas pastorales y otras declaraciones", con reflexiones de Jon Sobrino e Ignacio Martín-Baró.) Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2020.
• ·         John Thiede publicará un libro titulado Doctor of the Crucified People: The Theological Roots of Óscar Romero's Holy Witness ("Doctor del pueblo crucificado: Las raíces teológicas del santo testimonio de Óscar Romero"), Fortress Press, 2026.

En tercer lugar —y quizás el más sugerente (aunque también el más especulativo)— Romero sigue apareciendo en el magisterio papal (o en pronunciamientos relacionados con él).

• ·         El papa Francisco, quien citó a Romero a lo largo de su pontificado, lo presentó como una fuente de referencia. Como dijo informalmente a un grupo de jóvenes líderes de las Américas: “En América Latina tenemos un santo que sabía bien de estas cosas”. De manera más formal, declaró ante un grupo de obispos centroamericanos que “Su vida y enseñanza son fuente de inspiración para nuestras Iglesias y, de modo particular, para nosotros obispos” (énfasis agregado). Pasó a analizar varios conceptos importantes del ministerio de Romero que consideró útiles.
• ·         El Papa León XIV hizo referencia a Romero en su primer documento magisterial, la Exhortación Apostólica «Dilexi Te», publicada el 9 de octubre de 2025. El Pontífice destacó el martirio de Romero como uno de los hitos en el desarrollo de la doctrina social de la Iglesia latinoamericana, señalando que fue “una exhortación viva para la Iglesia” que Romero hiciera de los pobres “el centro de su opción pastoral”. Cabe destacar que Romero fue el único personaje no-papa mencionado en la sección del documento que analiza el desarrollo de la doctrina social en los últimos 200 años. (Esta fue la segunda referencia de León XIV a Romero en sus cinco meses de pontificado, tras haberlo citado también en una ceremonia en honor a los mártires del siglo XXI).
• ·         Los Papas Juan Pablo II y Benedicto XVI también se refirieron a Romero en términos similares a los del enfoque de León XIV. Juan Pablo II había llamado repetidamente a Romero un «pastor celoso» (aquí, aquí y aquí), en consonancia con la caracterización de León XIV de que “sintió como propio el drama de la gran mayoría de sus fieles” y los puso al centro de su ministerio. Benedicto XVI había llamado a Romero un pastor “lleno de amor de Dios”, en consonancia con la carta de León sobre cómo el amor a Dios va de la mano con el amor a los pobres.

La síntesis que surge rápidamente de todas estas voces postula a Romero como un doctor pastoral. El padre Bob Pelton acuñó ese término, tras haber propuesto a Romero como “Doctor Pastoral de la Iglesia Universal”. Algunos teólogos que han abordado el tema, como Edgardo Colón-Emeric y Michael Lee, han utilizado la misma terminología.

Curiosamente, los papas podrían haber estado pensando en la misma línea: desde el “pastor celoso” de Juan Pablo II, pasando por los “pastores llenos de amor” de Benedicto XVI, hasta la formulación de Francisco de un maestro de obispos, y el enfoque de León XVI en la “opción pastoral” de Romero, estos cuatro papas sucesivos se centran en la acción pastoral de Romero como punto de convergencia.

En resumen, es evidente que, siete años después de su canonización, San Óscar Arnulfo Romero sigue siendo considerado un referente importante en el desarrollo de la doctrina social y en la praxis pastoral que la acompaña. Al igual que el papa Francisco antes que él, el papa León considera a Romero un faro de iluminación para la eclesiología latinoamericana, a la que, a su vez, considera “una verdadera visión profética para la Iglesia de hoy y de mañana”.

 

The Key to the Salvadoran Martyrology

 

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#Beatification	#Canonization

 

“Martyrs are perennially the best the Church has to offer,” Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez (photo) declared at a press conference last Friday after the announcement that he will lead the beatification of four new martyrs in El Salvador on January 22, 2022. (The new blesseds will be the Jesuit Fr. Rutilio Grande, the Franciscan Friar Cosme Spessotto and the laymen Manuel Solórzano and Nelson Lemus.)

Rosa Chávez posits a constant truth in the history of the Church: martyrs are the highest exemplars of holiness and that’s the reason the catalogue of saints is referred to as the "martyrology." That is why the ancient father of the Church Tertullian famously said “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Their example is so powerful and compelling that it energizes the growth of belief. Somehow, though, we have managed to make it very complicated with the bureaucratic process for the recognition of new martyrs.

Part of the complication arises from the fact that the study of each case takes so long that the results do not come out — as we can see in the case of these new martyrs from the Salvadoran Civil War — until the conflict that produced their deaths has been resolved and archived. When the result finally comes out, all the urgency and immediacy that drove that cause has already dissipated. For this reason, during the process for the now sainted Oscar Romero, many wished to hasten the process so that the declaration of his holiness could bring relief and encouragement to the suffering, to the poor who desperately looked to him.

This attenuation between the martyrs and the elapsed history in which their martyrdom took place requires a gloss that explains the importance and implications of their martyrdom. For the four new martyrs for El Salvador, there is no greater reference guide for their martyrdom than the work of Saint Romero: above all, his homilies and his pastoral letters.

The biographer of the soon-to-be-Blessed Rutilio Grande has said that “Archbishop Romero cannot be understood without Rutilio Grande” — meaning that it was the murder (we would say martyrdom) of Grande that moved Romero to prophetically denounce that injustice and many others. But we can say in a similar fashion that Rutilio and the other martyrs cannot be understood without Romero's teaching, which explains why these Christians were so immersed in that cruel Salvadoran reality, what their ministry consisted of, and what violent reaction awaited them, among so many things catalogued so systematically in Romero's opus, which is a true theology of martyrdom in El Salvador. Romero expressed his ecclesial vision thus: “a Church that is alive, a Church of martyrs, a Church that is filled with the Holy Spirit” (Dec 31, 1978 Hom.). This is the Church that will be presented on January 22, 2022 in the atrium of the Salvadoran Cathedral.

The beatification of Grande, Spessotto, Solórzano and Lemus is the second installment required to understand the Salvadoran martyrology. The first installment was the canonization of Romero. But alongside the beatification of these new martyrs is another installment, which is Romero's teaching. There is still another chapter that is the recognition of WOMEN’S martyrdom, but we will leave that for another day.

La Clave del Martirologio Salvadoreño

 

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#Beatificación	#Canonización

“Siempre los mártires son lo mejor que tiene la Iglesia”, declaró el Cardenal Gregorio Rosa Chávez (foto) en una conferencia de prensa el viernes pasado tras el anuncio de que será el purpurado quien estará a cargo de la beatificación de cuatro nuevos mártires en El Salvador el 22 de enero del 2022. (Los nuevos beatos serán el jesuita P. Rutilio Grande, el franciscano Fray Cosme Spessotto y lo los laicos Manuel Solórzano y Nelson Lemus.)

Rosa Chávez propone una verdad constante en la historia de la Iglesia: los mártires son los máximos ejemplares de santidad y por eso el elenco de los santos se llama el “martirologio”. Por eso el antiguo padre de la Iglesia Tertuliano dijo famosamente “La sangre de los mártires es la semilla de la Iglesia”. Su ejemplo es tan poderos y convincente que energiza el crecimiento de los creyentes. Pero, de alguna manera, como que lo hemos vuelto más complicado con el proceso burocrático que produce el reconocimiento de nuevos mártires.

Parte de la complicación surge de que se tarda tanto el estudio de cada caso que los resultados no se dan—como vemos en el caso de estos nuevos mártires de la Guerra Civil Salvadoreña—hasta que el conflicto que causó su muerte ha quedado superado y archivado. Cuando se da el resultado, ya toda la urgencia e inmediación que impulsó aquella causa ya se ha desgastado. Por eso, durante el proceso del ahora santo San Óscar Romero, muchos hubiesen querido apresurar el proceso para que la declaración de su santidad llevara alivio y aliento al sufrido pueblo, a los pobres que de él dependían.

Este distanciamiento entre estos mártires y aquella historia ya archivada en que se dio su martirio requiere de una glosa que explique la importancia y las implicaciones de ese martirio. Para los cuatro nuevos mártires de El Salvador, no existe mayor guía de referencia para explicar sus martirios que la obra de San Romero: más que todo, sus homilías y sus cartas pastorales.

El biógrafo del próximo beato Rutilio Grande ha dicho que “Mons. Romero no se comprende sin Rutilio Grande”—queriendo dar a entender que fue el asesinato (diríamos martirio) de Grande lo que conmovió a Romero para impulsarlo a denunciar esa injusticia y muchas otras proféticamente. Pero podemos decir de igual manera que no se entiende a Rutilio ni a los otros mártires sin el magisterio de Romero que nos explica por qué estaban estos cristianos tan inmersos en la cruel realidad salvadoreña, en qué consistía su ministerio, y que reacción violenta les esperaba, entre tantas cosas plasmadas tan sistemáticamente en la obra de Romero, que es una verdadera teología del martirio en El Salvador. La visión eclesial de Romero la expresó así: “esta Iglesia que son ustedes, tan viva, una Iglesia tan mártir, una Iglesia tan llena del Espíritu Santo” (Hom. 31 dic. 1978). Es la Iglesia que se va a presentar el 22 enero de 2022 en el atrio de la Catedral salvadoreña.

La beatificación de Grande, Spessotto, Solórzano y Lemus es la segunda entrega en para entender el martirologio salvadoreño. La primera entrega fue la canonización de Romero. Pero a la par de la beatificación de estos nuevos mártires va otra entrega, que es la enseñanza de Romero. Todavía falta otro capitulo que es el reconocimiento del martirio MUJER, pero eso lo dejamos para otro día.

Saints for Our Time

 

Introduction

 The canonization of the four U.S. Catholic women killed in El Salvador in Dec. 1980 is “an idea whose time has come.” [FN1.] The canonization of Archbishop Romero in October 2018, and the upcoming beatifications of Frs. Rutilio Grande and Cosme Spessotto, also killed in El Salvador as martyrs, may make this a “propitious” moment to ponder sainthood for the U.S. women who were killed for similar reasons. [FN2.] 

The four missionaries should be formally proposed as saints “because they are women, and in El Salvador, women were killed for the faith alongside men in barbaric numbers, yet we think of the Latin American martyrology as a male institution,” but “[i]t is not.” [FN3.] 

Additionally, the fact that Jean Donovan, a laywoman who had completed missionary training at a Maryknoll center, was killed in the massacre illustrates how the laity, too, paid with their lives for following the Gospel. [FN4.]  “The presence of lay missionary Jean Donovan in the group is also a reminder that many laypeople — catechists, delegates of the word, sacristans, volunteers and simple parishioners — also shed their blood in this great persecution.” [FN5.] 

The murder of the U.S. churchwomen shocked the world because it was abhorrent to the international community’s sense of decency to respond with such vile hatred toward those advancing the common good. [FN6.] 

The Facts of Their Martyrdom

 Jean Donovan was devoted to Saint Oscar Romero, and often went to the cathedral to hear him preach. [FN7.] After his assassination on March 24, 1980, about eight months before their own murders, she and Sister Dorothy Kazel took turns keeping vigil at Romero’s coffin during his wake, and they were in the overflow crowd at his funeral. [FN8.] 

At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 2, 1980, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan drove to the San Salvador airport to pick up Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, who were returning from a religious conference in Nicaragua. [FN9.] All the women except Donovan were Roman Catholic nuns. [FN10.] Ford, 40, and Clarke, 49, belonged to the Maryknoll Order. Kazel, 40, belonged to the Ursuline Order. [FN11.] Donovan, 27, the youngest, was a lay worker who had recently given up a job with Arthur Andersen to volunteer in El Salvador. [FN12.] 

Subsergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Alemán, the officer in charge of the airport detachment of the Guardia Nacional, made a telephone call to an unknown superior who told him to execute the operation to eliminate the churchwomen. [FN13.] Colindres has never testified as to who issued the order to him. [FN14.] Nevertheless, after presumably receiving an order to do so, Colindres commissioned five Guardia officers to carry out the mission. [FN15.] When Ford and Clark's flight was delayed, uniformed soldiers boarded a plane at the San Salvador airport and questioned a different nun. [FN16.] 

After the plane arrived, the women drove in a van toward Teoteque in La Libertad, a coastal region of El Salvador, south of the airport. [FN17.] Unbeknownst to them, Colindres and his men had set up a double roadblock along the road. [FN18.] At the first roadblock, Guardia officers screened vehicles. [FN19.] When they discovered the van carrying the nuns, they were to divert it to the second roadblock, where Colindres and his men, now in civilian clothes, lay in wait. [FN20.] A van carrying a Canadian delegation was stopped and questioned at length. [FN21.] 

The women were stopped, taken to an isolated location, and questioned. [FN22.] Colindres made a telephone call, apparently to ask for orders. [FN23.] When Colindres returned, he ordered the women shot. [FN24.] When his subordinates asked him if there were written orders to that effect, Colindres said yes. [FN25.] The men raped and killed the women and left their bodies on the side of the road. [FN26.] The next day, the churchwomen's burned van was found. [FN27.] A local justice of the peace ordered that the bodies of the women be buried in shallow, roadside graves after a furtive initial investigation failed to identify the bodies as those of the missing American churchwomen. [FN28.] 

The Case for Sainthood 

The canon law standard for establishing martyrdom would require the proponents of the women’s cause to prove that they were killed in «odium fidei» (out of “hatred of the faith”) by showing: (1) a cruel or violent death; (2) freely accepted by the victims; (3) imposed out of hatred of the faith. [FN29.] To do this, the cause for the women could rely on the arguments used to support St. Oscar Romero’s martyrdom; after all, “they were killed the same year as St. Romero, in the same country and for the same cause.” [FN30.] Thus, “if he was a martyr [FN31] and a saint [FN32], it follows that they are, too, unless someone can prove otherwise.” [FN33.] To prove St. Romero’s martyrdom, his postulators showed that: I. there was persecution in El Salvador; II. its violence was directed toward members of the Church; III. the same persecution impacted the women. «Positio Super Martyrio» for Saint Oscar Romero, chapter XX. [FN34.] 

St. Romero himself gave a heartfelt protestation of the widespread persecution: 

In less than three years more than fifty priests have been attacked, threatened and slandered. Six of them are martyrs, having been assassinated; various others have been tortured, and others expelled from the country. Religious women have also been the object of persecution. The archdiocesan radio station, Catholic educational institutions and Christian religious institutions have been constantly attacked, menaced, threatened with bombs. Various parish convents have been sacked. 

[FN35.] In the same year the U.S. churchwomen were killed, at least twenty priests and religious workers were killed also, including the four women and the Archbishop. [FN36.] One list of Church casualties, maintained by the Jesuit University of Central America, named two bishops, sixteen priests, one seminarian, three nuns and at least twenty-seven lay workers who were assassinated during the conflict, in a country the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. [FN37.] 

It will not be hard to prove widespread persecution. After all, the same sociopolitical milieu that led to the women’s deaths has already produced five martyrs from the diminutive country (Romero, Spessotto, and Grande and his two peasant companions). If the cause for the women’s canonization is introduced today, it would probably take at least five years for the process to run its course so that, by the time it came on for hearing at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, its researchers and experts would already have a more or less established play book for El Salvador. Similar use of templates facilitated the processing of sainthood causes from countries whose internal conflicts churned out large numbers of martyrs, such as Spain and Mexico and, more recently, former Nazi and Communist countries. 

Nor will it be hard to prove that the women were motivated by Christian fervor and had gone to Salvador at the instigation of a saint (Romero). The Salvadoran “play book” will also show that the risks involved in taking up a “committed” position vis-à-vis the poor was well understood in the circles of Salvadoran society, such that the women were well aware of the danger to their lives and therefore they knowingly accepted those risks. 

Conclusion 

Therefore, short of some dramatic or scandalizing discovery—and none is believed to have been detected or even suspected—there is no reason to decline a canonization process for the women where one was pursued for St. Oscar Romero and the Venerables Spessotto and Grande. If anything, the reasons for pursuing sainthood causes for them abound, in part because they were women and one of them was a lay person.

 

 Notes: 

1.      See Rhina Guidos, “Some say it’s time to discern sainthood for U.S. women slain 40 years ago,” Catholic News Service, available at http://licatholic.org/some-say-its-time-to-discern-sainthood-for-u-s-women-slain-40-years-ago/.

2.      Id.

3.      Id.

4.      Id.

5.      Id.

6.      See Carlos X. Colorado, “Justice and the Generals: Holding foreign military officers accountable for rape and extrajudicial killing; the case of the U.S. Churchwomen killed in El Salvador,” 12 Southern California Review of Law and Women’s Studies 107, 113-114, Fall 2002.

7.      See InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF), “Martyrs of Central America and Colombia, Sr. Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan, Sr. Maura Clarke, Sr. Ita Ford.” Original link: http://www.irtfcleveland.org/Churchwomen_Biographies.htm (archived here).

8.      Id.

9.      See Colorado, supra.

10.  Id.

11.  Id.

12.  Id.

13.  Id.

14.  Id.

15.  Id.

16.  Id.

17.  Id.

18.  Id.

19.  Id.

20.  Id.

21.  Id.

22.  Id.

23.  Id.

24.  Id.

25.  Id.

26.  Id.

27.  Id.

28.  Id.

29.  See William H. Woestman, Canonization: Theology, History, Process 143 (St. Paul University, 2002)

30.  See Guidos, supra.

31.  See Nicole Winfield, “Pope decrees slain Salvadoran Archbishop Romero a martyr,” Associated Press, February 3, 2015, available at https://apnews.com/article/4c5ce0bfa85d47bca21dd3da75cf9644.

32.  See “Pope: ‘Saints risk everything to put the Gospel into practice’,” Vatican News, October 10, 2018, available at https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-10/pope-francis-canonization-mass-paul-vi-romero0.html.

33.  See Guidos, supra.

34.  See also “How they proved Romero’s martyrdom,” «Super Martyrio» Blog, February 10, 2015, available at http://polycarpi.blogspot.com/2015/02/how-they-proved-romeros-martyrdom.html.

35.  See Colorado, supra, 12 So.Cal. Rev. L. & Women's Stud. at 130 (citing Romero’s Feb. 2, 1980 speech at Lovaine University, Belgium).

36.  See Colorado, supra.

37.  Id.

 

Romero’s Fortieth, online

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#Beatification	#Canonization

Today’s 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Oscar Romero has been a subdued affair, given the state of affairs with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put El Salvador under one of the strictest quarantines in the world (mostly preventative; there are relatively few cases). As a result of this situation, commemorations are largely private affairs, with masses and vigils that usually take to the streets going online this year. So too are private reflections, and I want to share my own with you.

My main reflection this year is a piece I wrote for Catholic News Service, in which I reflect on the passage of forty years and the biblical significance of that period of time. In the Bible, forty years represents a generational change, a time when people who may have been around originally have passed away, resulting in a change in the spirit, atmosphere or dynamics of a situation. Using this standard, we can look at the world in which St. Romero died, and our own world, and recognize many significant changes.

Few places are those changes more remarkable than in El Salvador. In a post on El Salvador Perspectives, I lay out the changes in El Salvador which accompanied Romero’s changing fortunes, as he went from a taboo subject to an ubiquitous presence that nonetheless seems “hidden in plain sight.” It was very special to write this piece because the blog’s author, Tim Muth, was an early and consistent supporter of my own blogs.

Writing for El Salvador under quarantine is as unique an angle as I have ever had to consider, but that angle was put in even more intense focus in a post I wrote for Where Peter Is, a new influential Catholic site of associated pro-Francis bloggers. In this post, I defended the Church’s decision to cancel public masses in favor of broadcasted or webcasted masses, using St. Oscar as a reference point, in particular certain aspects of martyrdom which are misunderstood by some hardliners.

Here, in my own blog, I posted Spanish-language pieces intended for a Salvadoran audience on the 40th anniversary of Romero’s last Sunday sermon (the so-called “Fire Sermon” in which he exclaimed, “Stop the repression!”) yesterday, and a piece today about commemorating Romero in an intimate, family setting (as opposed to in a large gathering, as had typically been the case). I also shared this paper cut-out of a Romero light for home use!

Finally, the Vatican also was ‘Johnny on the Spot’ this year, with Vatican News stories and a video, in English, Spanish and Italian, on Romero’s legacy on the 40th anniversary of his martyrdom. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints also disseminated its robust page on Romero, including materials from his beatification and canonization (so far, only in Italian).

I will update other sources, to include other notable reflections authored by others.

San Romero — Cuarenta & Cuarentena

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#Beatificación	#Canonización

“Una ramita de romero en casa, y al santo en el corazón”. Con ese eslogan, el Cardenal Gregorio Rosa Chávez promovía hace un par de años una peregrinación al pueblo natal de San Óscar Romero, invitando al mismo tiempo a los fieles a sembrar la planta aromática que lleva su nombre en cada hogar. Sin saberlo, el purpurado estaba preparando la celebración del 40° aniversario del martirio de Romero que se marca hoy en El Salvador sin misas públicas, sin procesiones, sin conciertos—todas las actividades acostumbradas para un aniversario de Romero—a causa del Coronavirus. (El cardenal está, de hecho, guardando cuarentena por haber viajado afuera del país y haber estado obligado a hacerlo al volver.)

Para este magno aniversario, se les ha pedido a los salvadoreños conmemorar a Romero en casa: poniendo velas en las ventanas, aflorando un altar, subiendo una selfie con su homenaje. De hecho es “Romero en casa y el santo en el corazón”.

Ha de ser la celebración de Romero más intima que se ha tenido, y esto ofrece muchas posibilidades más que todo espirituales para los salvadoreños. En primer lugar, se trata del 40° aniversario, un plazo que tiene gran significado en la Biblia. En el Viejo Testamento, es un periodo generacional, que marca un cambio de épocas. Por ejemplo, Dios exilia los israelitas al desierto por ese tiempo, “hasta que fue acabada toda la generación de los que habían hecho mal ante los ojos del Señor” (Números 32, 13). La pandémica del COVID-19 tiene todas las marcas de un episodio apocalíptico, y la cuarentena en que se celebra este aniversario aproxima un exilio. También hace pensar de la Pascua judía, el Pésaj, cuando la muerte “saltó” las casas de los justos que pintaron sus puertas con la sangre de un cordero. Quizá los salvadoreños que pongan velas para recordar la sangre de Romero puedan esperar que esta plaga salte sus umbrales.

En segundo lugar, la intimidad de esta conmemoración hará de ella necesariamente una ocasión básicamente familiar. La beatificación de Romero en El Salvador reunió a un mar de fieles; su canonización en Roma también fue multitudinaria, como lo han sido las procesiones y grandes liturgias que siempre han marcado la fecha de su martirio. Han sido ocasiones internacionales en su alcance, y ciertamente nacionales: del pueblo. Esta vez no. Esto quedará en familia, y eso cambia radicalmente el carácter de los que se celebra. Puede ser de verdad “Romero en casa y el santo en el corazón”. Las posibilidades son grandes. Cabe que una abuela o abuelo hable por primera vez abiertamente con sus nietos sobre Romero, sobre la guerra, sobre aquellas cosas que jamás se han dicho: que fulano fue partidario de la derecha, que tu tío mengano fue de la guerrilla, y cosas de ese estilo. Esto puede ser así muy grande.

Finalmente, en tercer lugar, el ambiente sombrío de este aniversario tiene mucho en común con la época del asesinato de Mons. Romero. La generación que no había nacido cuando San Romero ofrendó su vida puede probar la amargura de estar escondidos, sin poder salir, en un ambiente de pavor, de muerte, bajo Estado de Sitio. Y tal como Romero ayudo a la generación anterior a vivir su hora negra señalando los acontecimientos en la Biblia y las enseñanzas de los antiguos profetas, ahora esta generación puede dejarse guiar del profeta que vivió en El Salvador antes de que ellos nacieran.

“Romero en casa y el santo en el corazón”.

De los 40 años desde ‘El sermón del fuego’

[ English ]
#Beatificación	#Canonización

Hace cuarenta años, Mons. Romero pronunció su inmortal homilía del Quinto Domingo de Cuaresma del ciclo litúrgico “C”. La llamo así porque seguramente Romero así ideó su sermón basado principalmente en la parábola de la adúltera que iba a ser apedreada, aunque el resto del mundo recuerda la homilía por su dramática frase culminante, “¡Cese la represión!” Esta breve reflexión sobre la última homilía dominical de Romero busca recordar su contexto teológico, repasar su impacto social y analizar la aplicabilidad del mensaje a nuestro momento.

Primero, vale recordar el marco de referencia que el mismo Romero dio a su homilía. Al presentarla, Romero trazó los puntos esenciales de su homilía, titulada “La Iglesia, un Servicio de Liberación Personal, Comunitaria, Trascendente”, así:

Estos tres calificativos marcan los tres pensamientos de la homilía de hoy: 

1º. La dignidad de la persona es lo primero que urge liberar. 

2º. Dios quiere salvar a todo el pueblo. 

3º. La trascendencia da a la liberación su verdadera y definitiva dimensión.

Es evidente que Romero quería desprender de la parábola de la adúltera la lección de que la ley no se puede aplicar arbitrariamente, sin tomar en cuenta la dignidad humana. Los que acusaban a la mujer estaban dispuestos a apedrearla sin más, a aplicar la ley sin la misericordia o cualquier otra consideración para evitar su muerte. En cambio, Jesús la defiende y acusa a los acusadores: ‘Aquel que esté sin pecado, que tire la primera piedra’. Para Romero, esto implica toda una serie de conclusiones que derivan del concepto “La ley para el hombre, no el hombre para la ley”. No se puede hacer caer sobre la dignidad de las personas ideologías—ya sean marxistas o capitalistas—o legalismos, ni mucho menos ordenes de seguridad nacional para reprimir el pueblo. Desde esa línea de pensamiento deriva directamente la famosa frase final: “En nombre de Dios, pues, y en nombre de este sufrido pueblo cuyos lamentos suben hasta el cielo cada día más tumultuosos, les suplico, les ruego, les ordeno en nombre de Dios: ¡Cese la represión!”

Esta frase ha tenido un impacto tremendo. Inmediato. Al siguiente día, Mons. Romero fue asesinado, se cree, basado en esta frase. He oído a expertos que dicen que al escuchar las palabras pronunciadas por Mons. Romero inmediatamente presumieron que sería asesinado—es más, algunos de los que lo aconsejaban al arzobispo le rogaron no pronunciar estas palabras ya que presentían el grave peligro que resultaría. La valentía de Romero en pronunciarlas es parte de la potencia de las palabras. “¡Nadie hará callar tu última homilía!”, declaro don Pedro Casaldáliga en su famoso poema. La frase ‘¡Cese la represión!’ ha sido reproducida en camisetas, stickers, y consignas y ha sido hasta transmitida a alto volumen hacia instalaciones militares estadounidenses. El activista John Dear ha calificado la homilía como la más grande interpelación por la justicia social en la historia de la Iglesia latinoamericana desde el sermón de Fray Antonio Montesinos en defensa de los indígenas en 1511.

Aquí una pequeña corrección: la frase ha sido históricamente interpretada como una invitación a la desobediencia, incluso en su momento, la dictadura salvadoreña dedujo que Romero estaba haciendo un llamado a la insubordinación de los soldados contra sus superiores, que podía provocar una sublevación formal. Esa interpretación se entiende, ya que Romero deja claro que los soldados deben desacatar ordenes inmorales: “Ningún soldado está obligado a obedecer una orden contra la Ley de Dios. Una ley inmoral, nadie tiene que cumplirla”. Sin embargo, el punto de referencia correcto NO sería la rebeldía sino que la obediencia: la obligación. El punto no es llamar a la gente a desobedecer a nadie, sino llamar a todos a OBEDECER A DIOS. Se trata de la primacía de la ley de Dios: “ante una orden de matar que dé un hombre, debe de prevalecer la Ley de Dios,” dice Romero (el énfasis es mío). Esto deja entrever que la lección tiene un aspecto positivo (obedecer la ley de Dios) y un aspecto negativo (desobedecer la ley del hombre cuando esta contradice la ley de Dios).

Esto nos trae a nuestro momento. Es interesante ver los paralelos: un sentido de crisis, una escala ascendiente en espiral de muerte. En el segmento de la vida nacional de la homilía, Romero hace un catálogo detallado de las muertes: 600 muertos identificados por Amnistía Internacional tras una exhumación de cadáveres, 140 muertos por un Estado de Sitio que vio varios enfrentamientos incluyendo un tiroteo contra la Universidad de El Salvador, 9 campesinos muertos en la población de San Bartolo Tecoluca, 25 campesinos muertos en San Pablo Tacachico, y varios otros casos que Romero informa que incluyen muertes y asesinatos en Arcatao, en Calera de Jutiapa, en El Jocote, en Mogotes Tacachico, y en la UCA. Una verdadera “pandémica”. Ante todos estos, Romero proclama que “la Pascua es grito de victoria, que nadie puede apagar aquella vida que Cristo resucitó y que ya la muerte, ni todos los signos de muerte … podrán vencer” (el énfasis es mío).

También vemos en los dos casos—el de entonces y el de hoy—un paralelo en el actuar del estado, la imposición de la ley, la intervención fuerte de un gobierno. Estado de Sitio. Las calles patrulladas. Las fuerzas del gobierno desplegadas por todo el territorio, imponiendo la voluntad estatal. Hasta algunos han sentido el instinto de la rebeldía: el querer desobedecer. Aquí es donde se tiene que analizar bien lo que dijo Romero: diferenciar la intención de la ley, de la orden que se enfrenta: ¿es orden para matar, o es orden para el bien común? ¿Es orden que ofende la dignidad de la persona, o es una ley que quiere salvaguardar el bienestar del pueblo?

Aquí repito a Romero:

Estos tres calificativos marcan los tres pensamientos de la homilía de hoy: 

1º. La dignidad de la persona es lo primero que urge liberar. 

2º. Dios quiere salvar a todo el pueblo. 

3º. La trascendencia da a la liberación su verdadera y definitiva dimensión.

Los principios aplican—porque son eternos y universales—pero hay que saber aplicarlos. Siempre desobedecer a algo implica obedecer a algo.

Romero and Rutilio

“The Great Amen” by Peter Bridgman

[ Español ]
#Beatification	#Canonization

The announcement of the approval of the martyrdom of the Salvadoran Fr. Rutilio Grande highlights the friendship of this new personality headed to the altars with the most famous Salvadoran martyr Saint Oscar Romero. The two men were friends, and the martyrdom of the now venerable P. Grande in 1977 is seen as the trigger for the martyrdom of St. Romero three years later. In this post, we will see that the truth is a multi-layered story, which turns on the mystery of the enigmatic friendship between a conservative bishop and a progressive, younger priest.

The first take on the relationship between Romero and Grande comes through sources such as the “Romero” movie (1989), which portrays the murder of the priest as moving the archbishop such that it leads to a “conversion” in his way of analyzing Salvadoran reality, and eventually leads to his own martyrdom. “It is impossible to understand Romero without understanding Rutilio Grande,” says Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the Roman postulator of Romero’s canonization cause. Although most people familiar with the subject would consider it an exaggeration to say that the death of Grande was the only factor in Romero’s “conversion,” it is generally acknowledged that the murder provided a substantial boost to a process that was many years in the making. At a minimum, it helped Romero recognize the injustice of repression when it befell a priest he knew and about whom it would be hard to say that he instigated violence or deserved such a brutal death.

“We cannot imagine Father Grande,” Romero said six months after his death, “hating, asking for vengeance or inciting violence.  These words were the slanderous words of his assassins.  Those who knew him know that it was impossible for him to have feelings of hatred in his heart even though his assassins were able to and continue to imagine such a reality.” (November 1, 1977 Homily.)

A second way of analyzing the relationship between Romero and Grande is from the interpersonal standpoint: two human beings and their friendship. But, like “The Odd Couple” in Neil Simon’s play, Romero and Grande come across like characters who should not be friends. This is the central mystery of their friendship: Romero got along well with Grande precisely at a time when he alienated himself from the young progressive clergy in San Salvador, in the early 1970s, and when he had a conflictive relationship with the Jesuits (Grande was a Jesuit). Father Rodolfo Cardenal, SJ, historian of Father Grande’s beatification cause, admits that “there is not much information on the development of the friendship.” Therefore, it is not known precisely how they met, what they had in common, and what kept them together: “But there is evidence that [their friendship] was strong and ran deep.”

In her book, Rutilio Grande: A Table for All, Rhina Guidos presents Rutilio and Romero as two sides of the coin in relation to the Church. They perfectly embody the two currents in conflict in the Latin American Church after the Second Vatican Council: Rutilio with his broad and reformist vision, and Romero with an approach attached to hierarchy and tradition. However, honor, love for the Church and genuine loyalty (because they were real friends) keeps them together, like Pironio and Quarracino in Argentina.

José Inocencio “Chencho” Alas, a former Salvadoran priest who met them both, says: “Father Rutilio had no ideological barriers, he was kind and helpful to everyone. He was a pastor just like Saint Oscar. “

A third approach tries to explain the Romero-Rutilio relationship from a psychological point of view. Father Cardenal explains: “They met at the seminary, at a time when both were going through difficult times.” It was 1967, and Romero had been both named a monsignor and secretary of the episcopal conference, transferred from his home province of San Miguel after twenty years working there, to work in the capital San Salvador where he had no allies. Father Grande finds him a room in the seminary, which was run by the Jesuits, in which Grande was positioning himself to become the rector. Romero is made a bishop and he asks Grande to organize the ordination ceremony, which he does with such attention to detail, that Romero, an infamous perfectionist, is eternally impressed. “At culminating moments in my life, he was very close to me and I will never forget his gestures of friendship,” Romero would remember at Grande’s funeral. (Hom. 14-Mar.-1977; see also dramatization from “Romero” film.)

However, Grande provokes the establishment with a bold homily and loses the favor to become the rector, while Romero also finds conflict in his work as auxiliary bishop. Romero ends up bishop of a rural diocese, and Grande pastor of a marginal parish. Grande’s generosity with Romero, and their mutual adversity seems to have linked the two clerics, and perhaps also the similarity between Grande and a friend from Romero’s youth, Msgr. Rafael Valladares, who also passed away before he turned 50 (Valladares died at 48 and Grande at 49).

A fourth reading, more spiritual but related to the first, is the one that sees Grande as a precursor prophet for Romero — there has been talk of Grande as John the Baptist, who announces the coming of one greater than he. Pope Francis also speaks in spiritual terms when he refers to Romero as “Rutilio Grande’s first miracle.” Cardinal Angelo Amato, former prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presented the two martyrs as partners in a shared ministry when he beatified Romero: after the assassination of Grande in 1977, “the peasants were now orphaned of their good father and Romero wished to take his post.” (Beatification Homily, May 23, 2015.) Romero takes Grande’s place to sub in as ‘Father of the Peasants.’ It is an idea echoed among the Salvadoran faithful, who claim they heard Grande’s prophetic tone in Romero’s preaching as soon as he began to denounce the assassination. In any case, a theological relationship is attributed, not just one of cause and effect on the human plane, but also in the encounter between the actions of men and the providence of God.

Finally, a fifth view of the relationship between Fr. Grande and Archbishop Romero is based on the first perspective, but modifies it to account for the remaining information, to reach an integral analysis of the facts: Yes --- Rutilio Grande pushed Abp. Romero to conversion, but he did so from before his assassination. In other words, it was not only Rutilio’s death that inspired Romero, but also his life. In fact, Rutilio also underwent a sort of “conversion” of his own, leaving the comfort of the seminary to immerse himself in the life and cause of the poor. Pope Francis himself highlights that option: “He left the 'center' to move to the outskirts. He was a great one.” Rutilio was also radicalized, which is evidenced in his style of preaching through the years. But he never departed from his essentially ecclesial mission: he died en route to celebrate a St. Joseph novena (just as Romero died celebrating mass). Romero took note of it, and he was impacted by the example.

Romero and Rutilio: friends, an odd couple, embodiments of competing Church models, associate prophets, or a template and imitator? It may be that each of these paradigms takes us a little closer to the truth about these two men that the Church now proposes as models of holiness.