Blessed Romero built peace with the power of love

Some thought this day of Beatification would never arrive. Others hoped, and some always knew it would.

May 28, 2015

SAN SALVADOR: Some thought this day of Beatification would never arrive. Others hoped, and some always knew it would.

On May 23, the Catholic Church beatified Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdamez of El Salvador, who was assassinated in 1980 while celebrating Mass, just a day after pleading and ordering soldiers to stop killing innocent civilians.

"Blessed Romero is another brilliant star that belongs to the sanctity of the church of the Americas," said Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Saints' Causes, during the ceremony in San Salvador. "And thanks be to God, there are many."

While those who persecuted him have died or are in obscurity, "the memory of Romero continues to live in the poor and the marginalized," Amato said.

His homilies often pleaded for better conditions for the poor, for a stop to the escalating violence in the country and for brotherhood among those whose divisions ultimately led to a 12-year conflict.

He's not a symbol of division but one of peace, Amato said.

In a message sent for the beatification, Pope Francis said Romero "built the peace with the power of love, gave testimony of the faith with his life."

Proof of that is the shirt he died in, soaked in blood, after an assassin's single bullet took his life. Eight deacons and priests carried the blood-stained shirt, now a relic, to the altar in a glass case. Others decorated it with flowers and candles during the Saturday ceremony. Several priests reached out to touch the case and later made the sign of the cross.

In a time of difficulty in El Salvador, Romero knew "how to guide, defend and protect his flock, remaining faithful to the Gospel and in communion with the whole church," the pope said in his message. "His ministry was distinguished by a particular attention to the poor and marginalized. And at the time of his death, while celebrating the holy sacrifice, love and reconciliation, he received the grace to be fully identified with the one who gave his life for his sheep."

The event, at the square of the Divine Savior of the World, saw the attendance of four Latin American presidents and six cardinals including: Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Leopoldo Brenes of Managua, Nicaragua; Jaime Ortega of Havana; Jose Maestrojuan of David, Panama; Roger Mahony of Los Angeles; and Italian Cardinal Amato. Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, postulator of Romero's cause, also attended.

Their excitement couldn't have been greater than that of those like Fr. Estefan Turcios, pastor of El Salvador's St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Soyapango and national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in El Salvador. Before El Salvador's conflict, Turcios was imprisoned for defending the rights of the poor. Romero helped free him.

"There have been people inspired by Romero for 35 years. How do you think they feel right now?" Turcios asked.

But just as he has devotees, Romero has had detractors.

After his death, the Vatican received mounds of letters against Romero, Paglia has said. And that affected his path toward sainthood, which includes beatification. But three decades after his assassination, Pope Benedict XVI cleared the archbishop's sainthood cause.

In February, Pope Francis signed the decree recognizing Romero as a martyr, a person killed "in hatred of the faith," which meant there is no need to prove a miracle for beatification. In general two miracles are needed for sainthood -- one for beatification and the second for canonization.

Turcios said by studying Romero's life, others will discover all the Gospel truths that led him to defend life, the poor and the church, and do away with untruths surrounding his legacy.

During the country's civil war that lasted from 1979 until 1992, some Salvadorans hid, buried and sometimes burned photos they had taken with or of Romero, because it could mean others would call them communists or rebel sympathizers and put their lives in danger.

Though he still has some detractors, Turcios said, the beatification can help others understand the reality and truth that others have known all along: Romero "was loyal to God's will, was loyal to and loved his people and was loyal to and loved the church," he said.--CNS