J. Puig Reixach / http://www.puigreixach.net/. Óscar Romero, pastel 

Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero

SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/12781/Saint-Oscar-Arnulfo-Romero.html

SAINT OSCAR ROMERO († 1980)

Histoire de sainteté: Mgr Oscar Romero

Qui était Mgr Oscar Romero ?

Un martyr hautement symbolique

Un début de magistère conservateur et un revirement spectaculaire

Une foi engagée

L'ennemi à abattre

Une béatification compliquée

 Mgr Romero sera un saint très apprécié, dit le prélat de l'Opus Dei. »

Mgr Romero, un homme de Dieu

Article du Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez (évêque auxiliaire de San Salvador ) sur saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero archevêque, martyr de San Salvador, canonisé le dimanche 14 octobre 2018.

DE L'EGLISE ET DU PAPE17 oct. 2018

Commentaire personnel sur un aspect de la vie de Mgr Romero

Publié dans la revue Palabra, à Madrid, en septembre 2018 (n. 669), pp. 62-64

J'ai réfléchi plus d'une fois à l’intérêt de partager mon expérience personnelle sur un aspect précis de la vie de mgr Romero, à savoir sa relation avec l'Opus Dei, ainsi qu'à celui de livrer quelques pièces et des détails que je suis le seul à connaître, intéressants à évoquer à la veille de sa canonisation. Je vais donc me servir d’une source pratiquement inédite : des notes de ses retraites spirituelles pendant la période suivante : avant qu'il ne devienne évêque jusqu'à un mois avant son assassinat.

Monseigneur Romero et Don Fernando

Le père Oscar Romero, comme tous les évêques du pays de l'époque, accueillit l’abbé Fernando Saenz Lacalle (vicaire de l’Opus Dei au Salvador), venu lui suggérer d’écrire au saint-père pour lui demander l’ouverture du procès de canonisation du fondateur de l’Opus Dei. Le texte élogieux du futur archevêque de San Salvador est bien connu de tous.

Par ailleurs, Oscar Romero, dès sa nomination épiscopale à Santiago Maria, avait abonné tous les prêtres de son petit diocèse à votre revuePalabra.

Quant à moi, je n’étais que séminariste lorsque j’ai accompagné occasionnellement le Père Romero à San Salvador, à la Résidence Doble Vía, dont la direction est confiée l'Œuvre. Doble Via est un foyer d’étudiants, issus, pour la plupart, de l'Est du Salvador. Oscar Romero, très proche de l'Œuvre, avait confié sa direction spirituelle à un prêtre de l’Opus Dei, Don Fernando, qu’il consulta avant d'accepter d’être élu évêque auxiliaire de San Salvador. Il s’est alors entretenu avec don Fernando au sujet de l'archevêque de l'époque, Luis Chávez y González et surtout au sujet de son assistant Arturo Rivera Damas. De son côté, la Nonciature lui avait conseillé d’être vigilant et de tenir le Vatican informé de la ligne pastorale de ces membres de la hiérarchie, dès qu’il y aurait un point non conforme aux normes de l’Église.

Quelques années plus tard, Monseigneur Romero succéda à Monseigneur Chávez au siège épiscopal, et les choses prirent une autre tournure : Monseigneur Romero, dans sa lettre pastorale programmatique La Iglesia de la Pascua (avril 1977), fit un bel éloge de son prédécesseur en affirmant qu'il prenait la direction du navire archiépiscopal "avec le respect et la délicatesse de celui qui perçoit qu'il a reçu un héritage d'une valeur incalculable pour continuer à le porter et le cultiver dans des horizons nouveaux et difficiles" (p.5).

Au milieu de cette lettre pastorale, il décrit son « rêve » de l'Église, en s'inspirant des documents de Medelllín : "Que le visage d'une Église authentiquement pauvre, missionnaire et pascale, détachée de tout pouvoir temporel et résolument engagée pour la libération de tout l'homme et de tous les hommes, se présente toujours plus clairement" (Jeunesse, 15). Le mot "pascale" est en majuscules dans le texte. Nous sommes au début de son ministère archiépiscopal et il a déjà eu à récupérer le corps de l'abbé Rutilio Grande, premier prêtre assassiné .

Ce rêve est devenu une réalité lorsqu'il l'a signée de son sang : il nous a laissé une Église martyre, libre face à tout pouvoir et totalement engagée envers les pauvres et ceux qui souffrent. Monseigneur Romero était, comme le dit la Bulle de béatification, "un pasteur selon le cœur du Christ,évangélisateur et père des pauvres, un témoin héroïque du Royaume de Dieu".

Cette belle description du témoignage du Christ a été complétée le lendemain par le Pape François lui-même, au moment du Regina Coeli, lorsqu'il a rappelé que "ce pasteur diligent, à l'exemple de Jésus, a choisi d'être au milieu de son peuple, surtout des pauvres et des opprimés, même au prix de sa vie" (24 mai 2015).

Nous sommes au début de trois années dramatiques marquées par une profonde polarisation, y compris au sein de l'Église. Au Salvador, il y a eu de nombreuses "relectures" de Medellín ; il est bon de le rappeler alors que nous venons de célébrer le cinquantième anniversaire de cet événement capital pour l'Église en Amérique latine. Il est à noter que c'est seulement sur ce continent qu'il y a eu une "réception" officielle des documents conciliaires. C'était une époque où les nuances n'existaient guère : "Tu dois prendre position", disaient les apôtres de la libération les plus radicaux, "soit tu es avec le peuple opprimé, soit tu es avec les oppresseurs".

C'est cette réalité que le vénérable pasteur a dû combattre. Il m'a confié qu'il subissait une forte pression pour forcer l'Opus Dei à adopter pleinement ces approches, que certains considéraient comme "la ligne de l'archidiocèse". En dépit de tout cela, Monseigneur Romero voua son amitié aux membres de l'Œuvre avec lesquels il fut toujours en contact, attentif à leurs observations et à leurs suggestions.

La preuve en est que le jour de sa mort, il a passé toute la matinée au bord de la mer, à l'invitation de Don Fernando, qui était venu le chercher à l'archevêché. Avec plusieurs prêtres, ils ont travaillé sur des documents concernant la formation des prêtres. Au retour de ce pique-nique, Monseigneur Romero est passé devant la maison des Jésuites à Santa Tecla, et s’est confessé .Nous en avons plusieurs témoignages, le plus fiable étant celui du jésuite Segundo Azcue, son confesseur. Une heure plus tard, le meurtre sacrilège était perpétré.

L'Opus Dei revient sur scène quand, après la mort subite de mgr Arturo Rivera Damas, - successeur immédiat d'Oscar Romero- , mgr Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, né en Espagne et arrivé au Salvador juste après son ordination, est élu archevêque de San Salvador.

Au Salvador, la première réaction de nombreuses personnes fut défavorable à mgr Saenz.

Dans ce contexte, votre revue Palabra publia une brève note de Rutilio Silvestri qui trouvait logique que cette charge ait été confiée précisément à l'un des meilleurs amis du pasteur assassiné, qui fut pendant longtemps son confident, voire son directeur spirituel.

Il est donc intéressant de se pencher, de façon critique, sur cette facette d'Oscar, prêtre et évêque, ainsi que sur sa relation avec l'Œuvre au cours de ses trois années d'intense et difficile conduite pastorale de cette portion de l'Église de Dieu.

La spiritualité de l'Opus Dei dans les écrits spirituels de Mgr Romero

Pour en apporter une première contribution, je vais me tourner vers une source pratiquement inédite : les notes de ses exercices spirituels, allant de l'année 1966, où il n'était pas encore évêque, au mois de février 1980, lors de sa retraite spirituelle, un mois avant sa mort .

Ces notes sont déjà à la disposition du public, – quoique partiellement pour le moment -. Elles font 324 pages. Ces notes manuscrites sont introduites, à chaque page, par un titre en caractères imprimerie pour en faciliter la lecture. 

Lors de sa retraite, en septembre 1968 (il avait célébré ses noces d'argent en tant que prêtre en 1967), au bord du lac Ilopango, il fait plusieurs allusions à Chemin, ouvrage de saint Josémaria bien connu.

En méditant sur le péché, il note ces résolutions : "Plus de vie intérieure, plus de service aux autres. Négativement : stratégie. S'éloigner du danger (Chemin). Plan de vie. Lutte contre le péché véniel : soyez parfaits. Désir de réparation et de pénitence (Chemin). Heure de spiritualité (...). Je vais mourir. Automne... Je serai une feuille morte (Chemin). L'humilité. Le monde suivra son cours. Personne ne se souvient de ceux qui sont partis." Et en faisant son examen de conscience, il écrit : "Le plus important, un acte d'amour (Chemin)".

Nous trouvons, à la fin de ces notes détaillées, plusieurs références à votre revue Palabra, sur la méditation de l'Évangile de Marthe et Marie(Chemin : le tabernacle à Béthanie). À la fin de la note il retranscrit cette citation d'une lettre du Prélat écrite en 1950 : "Chacun doit sanctifier sa profession, se sanctifier dans sa profession, se sanctifier avec sa profession". Il y a même le commentaire que saint Josémaria fit lors de la mort de sa mère:"La mère du prêtre ne devrait mourir que trois heures après son fils".

Du 10 au 14 novembre 1969, il a participé à la retraite prêchée par l'abbé Juan Izquierdo, de l'Opus Dei. A l'époque, O. Romero, Secrétaire général de la Conférence épiscopale du Salvador, ne peut être là que par intermittence,tenu par son engagement auprès de Monseigneur Pedro Arnoldo Aparicio, Président de l'épiscopat. Cela dit,il avoue être déçu par un climat peu propice à la rencontre avec Dieu : "Manque de recueillement. La "mancha brava" (ndt escadron extrémiste clandestin) brise définitivement mon silence.

J'interromps ma retraite le 11, pour préparer mon agenda.(...). Le 12, dès l'aube, je suis de nouveau à Apulo. Je ferai de mon mieux ces trois jours-ci."Sur la page suivante, il note brièvement : "26 janvier (1970). Confession avec l'abbé Javier".

Quelques lignes en dessous, nous trouvons cette phrase, écrite le 21 avril 1970 : "Le Nonce m'informe de la volonté du Pape. Je dois répondre demain. Échange avec don Fernando". Le lendemain, il note ce que celui-ci lui a ditet qui mérite d'être littéralement rapporté: "Éléments positifs : ligne de direction spirituelle. a) Faire face au vrai problème : le prendre comme un sacrifice, une expiation et prendre au sérieux l'attitude de réparation : fuir les occasions, vie intense de prière et mortification. b) Faire face à la tentation du triomphalisme : considérer cette grave responsabilité, un service pas facile, un travail à faire devant Dieu. c)face à la tentation de la pusillanimité : voir ça comme un travail devant Dieu, servir et orienter des millions d'âmes.Le Bon Pasteur donne sa vie pour ses brebis".

Puis, point à la ligne, le 8 juin 1970, au Collège Bélen, il écrit : "Le 21 avril (comme par hasard, un 21 !) vers 18 heures, le Nonce m'a annoncé que j'étais nommé évêque auxiliaire de mgr Archevêque. Ma réponse était attendue le lendemain. J'ai consulté le P. Saenz, le Dr Dárdano, le P. Navarrete". Et il fait un court résumé des réponses de chacun.

Un guide sûr au cœur de la tourmente

Ce qu'il a noté ensuite a marqué profondément le tout jeune évêque:"Assemblée plénière de l'Épiscopat d'Amérique Centrale et du Panama, à Antigua, au Guatemala: 27 mai- 2 juin. Une vraie grâce au plus haut point: la rencontre de tant de bons évêques, la réflexion de mgr Eduardo Pironio, la liturgie, mon travail..."

Ce cher évêque argentin, dont la cause de canonisation a été introduite il y a quelques années, a prêché en 1974, à la demande de Paul VI, la retraite au Vatican. En juillet 1975, il a aussi prêché la retraite aux évêques centre-américains, de l'Isthme, à Antigua, au Guatémala. Mgr Romero, qui était alors secrétaire adjoint du SEDAC - secrétariat épiscopal d'Amérique Centrale), prit des notes détaillées des douze méditations de Pironio. Mgr Romero comprit alors le vrai sens de Medellin, événement salutaire qui introduisit les enseignements du Concile Vatican II dans la réalité dramatique de l'Amérique latine. Mgr Romero et mgr Pironio tissent des liens très forts. L'évêque argentin deviendra son conseiller, son confident et son consolateur à chaque visite que l'archevêque martyr fera au Vatican. Ce fait, clairement explicité dans le Journal de mgr Romero, est connu de tous. Puissent ces quelques lignes vous permettre de mieux comprendre le premier saint du Salvador et faire que l'odeur de sa sainteté -le romarin ( el romero ) est une plante aromatique- se répande dans le monde entier

Biographie de Mgr Óscar Romero

Né en 1917 à Ciudad Barrios, au Salvador. Il fit ses études secondaires chez les Pères Clarétiens et, de 1937 à 1944, à l'Université Grégorienne de Rome. Ordonné prêtre en 1942 et archevêque de San Salvador, en 1977, il s'est battu pour la défense des plus démunis, en rejetant toute violence et en propageant l'amour de la justice. En 1980, il a été nommé prix Nobel de la paix. Il a présidé la Conférence épiscopale salvadorienne et a été docteur honoris causa des universités de Louvain et de Georgetown. Le 24 mars 1980, vers 18 h 25, il fut assassiné, sous le coup d’un tir ciblé, alors qu'il célébrait l'Eucharistie en la chapelle de l'hôpital de la Divine Providence de San Salvador et qu'il se préparait à recevoir le Corps de Jésus. Óscar Arnulfo Romero, martyr salvadorien, fut béatifié le 23 mai 2015 à San Salvador, capitale du Salvador, en présence de plusieurs présidents d’Amérique et du monde entier, rassemblés avec des milliers de fidèles sur la place Salvador del Mundo. Le pape François vient de le canoniser à Rome, dimanche 14 octobre 2018.

Prière à Mgr Óscar Romero

Oh! Dieu le Père Miséricordieux, toi qui, par Jésus Christ, par l’'intercession de la Vierge Marie, reine de la paix, et par l'action du Saint-Esprit, as accordé au Bienheureux Oscar Romero la grâce d'être un pasteur exemplaire au service de l'Église, et tout spécialement des pauvres et des démunis, fais, Seigneur, que je sache vivre aussi selon Évangile de ton fils, accorde-moi par l’intercession de saint Oscar Romero la faveur que je vous demande ... Ainsi soit-il. Notre Père, Je vous salue Marie et Gloire

SOURCE : https://opusdei.org/fr-ca/article/mgr-romero-un-homme-de-dieu/

Oscar Romero (al centro) junto a Rutilio Grande (al lado derecho) en la toma de arzobispado 1979

Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez

• 24 March

• 15 August 1917 in Ciudad Barrios, San Miguel, El Salvador

• shot by a government-affiliated death squad on the morning of 24 March 1980 in the chapel of La Divina Providencia Hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador while celebrating Mass

• 3 February 2015 by Pope Francis (decree of martyrdom)

• 23 May 2015 by Pope Francis
• recognition celebrated at Plaza Divino Salvador del Mundo, San Salvador, El Salvador, Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Causes of the Saints, chief celebrant

• 14 October 2018 by Pope Francis at Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy

• Caritas Internationalis (chosen 17 May 2015)
• World Youth Day 2019

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-oscar-arnulfo-romero-y-galdamez/

Monseñor Romero junto al papa Pablo VI

Insides that didn't decompose – and other stunning facts about Oscar Romero

SOURCE : https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/insides-that-didnt-decompose-and-other-stunning-facts-about-oscar-romero-52016

Three Common Myths about Archbishop Oscar Romero

The life and legacy of Romero, who will be canonized on October 14th, have frequently been distorted and seized by political ideologues and those who want to change Church doctrine.

October 13, 2018 Filip Mazurczak

On Sunday, Pope Francis will canonize seven new saints. The best-known of them are Pope Paul VI (1897-1978), who served the Church as supreme pontiff from 1963 to 1978, and Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980), the courageous Salvadoran archbishop who was martyred while celebrating Mass after having becoming a fervent advocate of the rights of the poor and victims of political violence.

Unfortunately, however, Archbishop Romero’s life and legacy have frequently been distorted and seized by political ideologues and those who want to change Church doctrine. It is likely that in the news coverage in the coming days the secular mainstream media and progressive Catholic outlets will present the Salvadoran martyr as a very different figure from who he really was. Specifically, they will likely use Romero to criticize Pope Francis’ two direct predecessors and repeat the following myths which, as we shall see, are just that: myths.

Who was Oscar Romero?

Oscar Romero served as archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 to 1980. At that time, El Salvador’s economy was basically feudal, as a small number of wealthy families (disproportionately of European origin) owned the majority of the land where the masses of the peasantry, the campesinos, lived in dire poverty. In the late 1970s, Salvadoran peasants, many of whom were inspired by leftist ideologies, began to fight for the right to ownership of the land, while the right-wing government responded with extreme brutality. Many murdered peasants were gruesomely disfigured to scare off others from rebelling. Meanwhile, the regime increasingly accused the Salvadoran clergy of being infiltrated by communists and killed priests. Amidst this growing bloodshed, Archbishop Romero called for peace and for the cessation of violence and for an end to economic injustice. On March 24, 1980, he was shot by a government death squad while celebrating Mass.

Myth #1: Romero was a proponent of liberation theology

The term “liberation theology” was coined by Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez in 1971. This theological current sought to emphasize the poor as those especially loved by Christ and encouraged social action to improve their lot. While on the surface this sounds like nothing incompatible with the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi and Catholic social teaching, many liberation theologians adopted troubling ideas.

They presented Christ as a political figure; adopted Marxist notions of class struggle (some liberation theologians proposed excommunicating the wealthy); did not reject, and in some cases, openly espoused political violence; and cooperated with communists. In 1984, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued an Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology of Liberation,” which was very critical of these ideas.

Romero is often associated with this controversial theology, and is even seen as an informal martyr of the movement. Indeed, many priests in El Salvador who were active in Romero’s time (many of whom were transplanted European missionaries influenced by Marxist thinking from the Old Continent), particularly Jesuits, were key proponents of liberation theology.

The fact that some of them knew Romero was about the extent of the archbishop’s association with the movement. When Romero was beatified in 2015, his former secretary, Msgr. Jesus Delgado told the Catholic News Agency:

When I wrote his life story, I looked over his library. Obviously, the liberation theology proponents always visited him and left him their books. I saw them, and they were like brand new, he never even opened them. He never read them; he never looked at them. On the other hand, all the books of the fathers of the Church were worn and were the source of his inspiration.

The monsignor adds that his former boss “knew nothing about liberation theology, he did not want to know about it. He adhered faithfully to the Catholic Church and above all to the teachings of the popes.”

Romero’s view of the causes of poverty and injustice differed from that of Marxist-inspired liberation theologians, who believed that unjust political structures are to blame. By contrast, in a pastoral letter Archbishop Romero stated: “[Liberation] has to start from redemption in Christ, redemption from sin. Laws and structures would be useless if human beings were not renewed interiorly, repenting of their own sins and striving to live a more just life.”

A look at what documents and authors Archbishop Romero referenced in his homilies is very telling. In his excellent book on the martyr, which is not just a chronological biography but also places its subject and his thought in context and dispels certain myths, Roberto Morozzo della Rocca notes that in about two hundred published homilies, Romero quoted Popes Paul VI and John Paul II 373 times; Vatican II 296 times; and the Latin American Episcopal Conference’s (CELAM) conferences in Puebla and Medellín 101 and eighty-five times, respectively.

The number of times Romero cited Marx, Engels, Lenin, or any of the liberation theologians in his homilies was zero.

Myth #2: Romero was a leftist

When we talk about the Church using the political labels “left” and “right,” it is worth knowing where these terms came from. After the French Revolution, supporters of the monarchy were seated on the right side of the National Assembly, while revolutionaries were on the left.

The Church has been around for 2,000 years, which means that the terms “left” and “right” have existed for slightly more than one-tenth of her history. Thus, to interpret Christianity, whose message is timeless and universal, in terms of relatively recent categories of secular politics is greatly simplistic.

Naturally, throughout the years there have been Catholics who have mixed their faith with secular political ideologies (with invariably disastrous results). This was certainly the case in Central America, both in Romero’s El Salvador, where many priests and lay Catholics supported leftist guerrillas, but especially in Nicaragua, where the Marxist, Cuban-backed Sandinista revolution of 1979 had the backing of a sizable proportion of the clergy. Several priests, such as the Cardenal brothers (one of whom was famously reprimanded by Pope St. John Paul II during the latter’s 1983 visit to the country), served as ministers in Nicaragua’s revolutionary government.

Archbishop Romero was no such figure. Naturally, in his homilies and popular broadcasts on Radio YSAX he spoke out more frequently against the abuses of the right than he did of the left. However, this was not because of some political bias, but simply because El Salvador’s right-wing, US-backed government was responsible for the vast majority of the killings in what would become the Salvadoran civil war: between 80 and 90 percent of the 75,000 victims of this brutal conflict were killed by the regime rather than by leftist guerrillas.

Still, Romero did not hesitate to call the left out for its offenses. He frequently criticized leftist guerrillas for using violence to achieve their aims, even if he believed that the underlying root of guerrilla violence was poverty and the repression of the regime. The martyred archbishop’s views on armed revolution were actually quite conservative and would prove disappointing to many liberation theologians. In a meeting with the press, he said that an armed uprising would be acceptable only if “all peaceful means had been exhausted” and if “the evils of insurrection [were] not worse than the evils of the dictatorship or tyrannical power to be eliminated.”

For many of the progressive Catholics who love Archbishop Romero, Opus Dei represents everything they dislike about conservative Catholicism. It just so happens that Romero had a very close relationship with this movement, which in Latin America and Spain is often associated with the political right. Romero was an admirer of Opus Dei founder St. Josemaría Escrivá, whom he met in 1955. Meanwhile, his confessor, the Spanish born Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, was a member of the prelature. Oscar Romero remained close to the movement literally up to the very end: he attended an Opus Dei meeting for priests on the very day he was killed.

Like any country that has gone through civil war or dictatorship, Salvadoran society is greatly divided. Because Romero criticized the military regime, he has become a darling of the Salvadoran left. The country’s leftist presidents Mauricio Funes Cartagena and Salvador Sánchez Cerén, for example, have praised him as a national hero. Naturally, they have conveniently ignored the fact that the archbishop also condemned leftist guerrilla violence. Consequently, the polarization in Salvadoran society and politics has cemented Romero’s leftist reputation.

Myth #3: Romero was in conflict with Pope John Paul II

In 2005, when Pope St. John Paul II died, several television movies about the beloved pontiff were made. One of them was Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II. In the film, there is a scene in which the pope, played by German actor Thomas Kretschmann, meets with Archbishop Romero. John Paul II is portrayed as screaming at the future martyr and angrily imploring him to be obedient to Rome. Only when Romero is gunned down while saying Mass does the pontiff feel guilty for having been so harsh; Kretschmann’s John Paul II is then shown travelling to El Salvador and praying at the martyr’s tomb, begging for forgiveness.

The scene portrayed in this film never happened, although the belief that John Paul II was cold to Romero, whom he supposedly saw as a communist subversive, does appear to be widespread in some sectors, particularly among Catholic progressives. For example, in his obituary of John Paul II in the progressive National Catholic Reporter, John L. Allen, Jr., chastised the late pope for “[s]habby papal treatment of El Salvador’s martyr-archbishop Oscar Romero.”

The historical record, however, is different.

The two future saints met twice. The first visit occurred in April 1979, when John Paul II had been pope for barely half a year. There were many churchmen in Rome who were negatively disposed towards Romero, and undoubtedly some of them gave the pope negative reports about the prelate. During their first meeting, Archbishop Romero gave John Paul II a large collection of papers documenting human rights abuses in El Salvador and his own ministry. The pope recommended that he approach the situation in his country with “courage and boldness,” but “tempered with prudence and necessary balance.” Furthermore, the pope recommended unity in the Salvadoran episcopate.

Archbishop Romero had conflicting feelings about his first audience. On the one hand, he had the impression that negative reports about him had reached the pope. “I have learned that one cannot expect total approval,” he wrote in his diary. On the other hand, however, John Paul II – unlike others in Rome – accepted Romero’s criticism of the Salvadoran regime, rather than asking him to be on positive terms with it. Romero also wrote that John Paul II had been “extremely helpful.” In other words, the scene of John Paul II scolding Romero is pure fantasy.

The second meeting between these two great men of the Church took place nine months later. Romero was in Europe to receive an honorary degree and briefly visited Rome. After the general audience, John Paul II approached Romero and asked for a meeting, much to the latter’s surprise. Here’s what the martyred archbishop wrote about this meeting in his diary:

The Holy Father told me: ‘I know the serious situation your country is going through, and I know that your apostolate is very difficult. You can count on my prayers: every day I pray for El Salvador. It is necessary to defend social justice and love for the poor a lot, tenaciously, but it is also necessary to be very careful about the ideologies that can seep into this defense of human rights, which in the long term are just as harmful to human rights.’ I replied: ‘Holy Father, I am glad to be in agreement, because I am seeking this balance: to defend social justice courageously, which is the weakest point in my country. To be with the people fully, but also to point out that there can be dangers in claims made without Christian sentiments.’ He told me that this was the balance that had to be maintained and that we should always have trust in God. This is a summary of his thought; then he gave me a strong embrace, told me that he was with me, and gave me a special blessing for my people.

Romero’s biographer Roberto Morozza della Rocca writes the following about the second meeting between John Paul II and Romero:

In May 1979, Romero had left Rome without having understood that John Paul II had given him his confidence. In contrast, Romero returned from his last trip to Rome in a state of euphoria, strengthened by the full solidarity of the Pope, which had been expressed in personal, fraternal terms. Being so much better acquainted with the Pontiff, Romero could rely in the future on personal communication with him, and knew that he was in his thoughts and prayers. In the following weeks, Romero made several enthusiastic references in his Sunday homilies to his meeting with John Paul II.

St. John Paul II visited Archbishop Romero’s tomb twice, during his visits to El Salvador in 1983 and 1996. During the first visit, El Salvador was torn apart by a bloody civil war. Many Church officials implored him to not visit Romero’s tomb, not only because many of them saw the martyred archbishop as a heretical liberation theologian, but also because this would be seen as a partisan gesture in a violently polarized society. “No, the pope has to go,” John Paul replied. “Romero was a bishop who was gunned down at the very heart of his ministry as a pastor, during the celebration of the Holy Mass.”

Archbishop Oscar Romero was one of the great Catholic martyrs of the twentieth century. At a time when the secular media’s coverage of the Church is overwhelmingly negative and focuses on scandal, his canonization is a welcome reminder that we have many Catholic heroes of whom we can be proud. He was not, however, a leftist, a liberation theologian, or an adversary of Pope St. John Paul II, and frequent characterizations of him as such are an insult to the truth and to his great legacy.

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About Filip Mazurczak  46 Articles

Filip Mazurczak is a journalist, translator, and historian. His writing has appeared in the National Catholic Register, First Things, Tygodnik Powszechny, and other publications.

SOURCE : https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/10/13/three-common-myths-about-archbishop-oscar-romero/

Faculté des sciences juridiques et sociales de l'Université du Salvador

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE MARTYR MONSIGNOR OSCAR ARNULFO ROMERO Y GALDAMEZ

BY ARCHBISHOP VINCENZO PAGLIA, POSTULATOR OF THE CAUSE

SAN SALVADOR, 23 MAY 2015

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Oscar Arnulfo Romero was born in Ciudad Barrios in 1917. After attending the Minor Seminary in San Miguel, and the Major one, San Jose, he completed his training at the Pio Latinoamericano in Rome. Here he deepened his sense of the priesthood as a service to the Church and the poor. On December 24, 1941, for example, after encountering some poor near St. Peter’s Square in Rome, he wrote: “The poor are the incarnation of Christ. Through their tattered clothing, their dark gazes, their festering sores, the laughter of the mentally ill, the charitable soul discovers and venerates Christ.”

In Rome, he would encounter the universal dimension of the Church. The Pope became for him an essential point of reference, starting with Pius XI whom he loved to define as “imperial” because of the firm treatment he dealt to the powerful Nazi, fascist and communist dictatorships. And he conceived the beginning his priestly ministry as a service to the diocesan Church: “I want to be a Host for my diocese,” Romero wrote the day of his priestly ordination on April 4, 1942. The Lord literally reserved this fate for him by his death at the altar while starting the offertory. That day he was the Host offered to the Lord on the altar.

Returning to El Salvador, from 1944 to 1967, he exercised his priestly ministry in the city of San Miguel. That year, he was transferred to the capital, San Salvador, to be secretary of the Salvadoran bishops’ conference. Three years later, on November 21, 1970 he was consecrated bishop, taking the motto “sentire cum Ecclesia”, “To Feel with the Church “as if charting the way ahead. Then he was appointed bishop of Santiago de Maria, demonstrating his pastoral sensitivity, he went to preach among the people. He wrote “the bishop is not only the prophet but also the creator of a prophetic community and the prophet has to read the footsteps of the Lord in history. So we have to see with our feet on the ground and our heart in Heaven.”  On February 3, 1977, feast of St. Oscar, Romero was called to guide the Archdiocese of San Salvador, the same day on which thirty-eight years later, Pope Francis signed the decree for his beatification as a martyr of the Church of God. [Applause.]

The last three years of life Romero spent as Archbishop of San Salvador are the most precious treasure he left us. They were the culmination of his life, even more resembling that of Jesus in his three years of public life. These were years of passionate preaching that ended up in the altar with his heart torn by a bullet as Jesus ended up on the cross with his heart torn by a spear. With Romero, Jesus walked again among his people. [Applause.]

Romero began his ministry as archbishop just as a new wave of repression lashed the people and the Church lived a real persecution. Romero felt unprepared for this task but the Lord came to his aid. On the night of March 12, 1977, he kept watch all night over the body of his friend, Father Rutilio Grande, whom Romero valued highly, brutally killed [Applause] along with two peasants, Nelson and Manuel.  He felt he had to take his place, even at the cost of dying. And repeatedly said, “That night I received from heaven the gift of a particular fortitude.” Romero actually became the strong pastor he had not been before. Like the Good Shepherd of the Gospel, Romero took up the defense of his people. It was what the Second Vatican Council and the whole Episcopate of Latin America called for when they indicated the preferential option for the poor as the way of the Church of the Council. Romero often tapped the texts of the Council, Medellin, and Puebla. This from Puebla: “by the very fact that they are poor, God takes their defense and loves them.”

Romero, faithful to this magisterium, chose his people, he felt the smell of his flock and the people felt the smell of her pastor and listened to him. This link allowed Romero to say “with this people is not hard to be a good shepherd.” [Applause.] And Romero became for his beloved country and for the whole Church an exemplary pastor who defended the poor, a defensor pauperum, said the ancient church fathers. As archbishop of the capital, Romero felt a new public responsibility, and he lived it with a passion and determination to do everything in the most serious way possible. Facing a multiplication of injustice and murder, the annunciation of the Gospel became also a denunciation of what was happening in the country. He was accused of playing politics but Romero clarified “what I seek to do is not play politics, but if I need to shed light on the politics of my country it is because I am a pastor, it stems from the Gospel, which is a light that must illuminate the paths of the country and give its contribution as Church.” [Applause.]

The strong bond that Romero had with the Holy See and the popes is evidenced in many texts and speeches throughout his life. As Archbishop of San Salvador, he especially revered Paul VI and his encyclicals, which he cited often. He barely had time to meet John Paul II. After his second and last meeting with this pope, on January 30, 1980, Romero pronounced himself about it in preaching the following Sunday in El Salvador and he said, “Brethren, the greatest glory of a pastor is to live in communion with the pope. For me it is the secret of all the truth and effectiveness of my preaching—to be in communion with the pope.”

Romero was assassinated on March 24, 1980 after many other priests, and hundreds of catechists were killed. Romero was wounded in the heart while celebrating Mass. At the end of the Liturgy of the Word, as if wanting to interrupt his preaching forever, but his voice spread throughout the world and the sensus fidelium has honored his martyrdom with a widespread, beautiful popular devotion [Applause] expressed in the prayer, in remembrance of grace, in the veneration of his tomb, in visits to his small room in the Hospitalito. In those dark years of civil war, the memory of the sacrifice of Romero provided sense and encouragement to many Salvadoran families who lost loved ones in the fratricidal conflict. Today, as he is raised to the altars as Blessed and Martyr, in the face of so much violence which still bloodies our world, Romero keeps talking to us and asking our conversion with the popular expression he held dear: “God first” (“God willing”). Yes, God above all.

With this celebration we conclude the interrupted Mass the day of his martyrdom and the interrupted Mass the day of his funeral [Applause.] And from heaven Romero blesses this extraordinary country, blesses all of Latin America, blesses the Church and accompanies with his prayers and protects Pope Francis, whom we feel close to us at this moment. [Applause.]

SOURCE : http://polycarpi.blogspot.com/2015/06/biography.html

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero

#SaintOscarRomero #Beatification

It’s official: since last Sunday, October 14, 2018, we can now say “Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, Bishop and Martyr”. So it was decreed by Pope Francis, ordering that his name be added to the book of saints in order to receive dignified reverence throughout the whole Church.

Francis structured his catechesis for the canonization by dedicating the main thrust of his homily in Italian during the Mass for Canonizations to Paul VI, and returning to Archbishop Romero more in depth the following day, speaking in Spanish during an audience granted to the Salvadoran pilgrims in Rome for the canonization.

During the ceremony on Sunday, the Pope placed Romero in the context of a “radical” Jesus and a “prophetic” Paul VI: Francis said that “Jesus is radical. He gives all and he asks all: he gives a love that is total and asks for an undivided heart.”  He added that, “Jesus is not content with a percentage of love: we cannot love him twenty or fifty or sixty percent. It is either all or nothing.” Speaking of Paul VI, Francis said that he had been “a prophet of a Church turned outwards, looking to those far away and taking care of the poor.”

He added: “It is wonderful that together with him ... there is Archbishop Romero, who left the security of the world, even his own safety, in order to give his life according to the Gospel, close to the poor and to his people, with a heart drawn to Jesus and his brothers and sisters.”

If during the canonization the Pope spoke of Romero’s heart, the next day the emphasis was onRomero’s mind and his Thinking with the Church. After hearing an exhortation from current San Salvador Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas to open the process for Romero to be recognized as a Doctor of the Church, Francis referred to Romero as “an outstanding pastor of the American continent.”

The Supreme Pontiff stated that “St. Oscar Romero knew how to incarnate with perfection the image of the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep” and, addressing the bishops, said that they “can find in him an example and a stimulus in the ministry entrusted to them.” Then, speaking to the clergy and religious, he urged them: “make yourselves worthy of his teachings.” He entrusted the lay pilgrims to the “message of St. Oscar Romero” and, referring to the inhabitants of El Salvador, Francis said in improvised words, veering off his text, that “the people loved St. Oscar Romero” because “the people of God know the smell of holiness.”

Returning to the canonization, it was attended by Queen Sofia of Spain, the presidents of Italy, Chile, El Salvador, Panama, and the Vice President of Taiwan, among others. Religious leaders included hundreds of bishops, archbishops and cardinals, and also leaders of other religions. The Anglican Church was represented by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, while the current archbishop, Justin Welby, issued a statement.

“Blessed Oscar Romero,” Welby said in his message written before Romero was canonized, “is a true example for all Christians, and particularly to our fellow bishops.” The prelate concluded, “Blessed Oscar is held in great esteem in the Church of England,” explaining that he is included in the liturgical calendar and among the statues of martyrs of the twentieth century in Westminster Abbey.

The presence of Salvadorans was felt in St. Peter’s Square during the ceremony and the audiences with the Pope, as well as throughout the city where the visitors were omnipresent at Rome’s great tourist attractions. Many of them had to make significant financial sacrifices to be there. Meanwhile, in San Salvador, thousands of people crowded Plaza Barrios in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral, to follow the ceremony live at two in the morning, local time, through giant screens.

By design, a canonization in Rome delivers shock and awe, and so it was for Romero’s followers, especially Salvadorans who had never witnessed anything like it. The magnitude of the ceremony before 70,000 spectators, the image of Romero in the “glory of Bernini” (the colonnade of St. Peter’s), along with the other new universal saints, the angelic singing of the Vatican choir, the Gospel read in Greek and In Latin; all this tends to have an overwhelming effect, an attack on the senses that dispels doubts and conquers minds.

Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, pray for us!

SOURCE : https://polycarpi.blogspot.com/2018/10/saint-oscar-arnulfo-romero.html