“Let’s talk about
Msgr. Romero,” Pope Francis told Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes
when the two met in May (see item number 3 below). The papal directive could be used to describe
the year Archbishop Óscar Romero had in 2013—it was a banner year. Talk about Archbishop Romero, we did—whether
it was the Pope talking about Romero with numerous visitors to the Vatican, the
friendly coverage in the official Vatican newspaper (item #9), or articles for (here and here) and against his beatification (here), the
Pope’s invitation made Archbishop Romero a topic of discussion this year. And there was a lot to talk about! The following are the top ten Romero related
stories we discussed this year.
1. Movement
in Rome. The progress in
Archbishop Romero’s canonization cause in 2013 came in three distinct
movements. First, Archbishop Vincenzo
Paglia, the postulator of the cause, announced that Pope Francis had unblocked
the cause. Later, the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith announced that it had issued a «nihil obstat,» removing any doctrinal barriers to the cause. Finally, the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints confirmed that there were no obstacles remaining for the beatification
to proceed. Pope Francis reportedly told
numerous observers that the cause is on track.
2. Jorge
Mario Bergoglio elected Pope.
The elevation of the first Latin American to the See of Peter
represented a tectonic shift for the Church, and no less so for the Romero
cause. As explained by Italian Cardinals
Achille Silvestrini and Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, Romero symbolizes
“the Church that Pope Bergoglio wants to
project to the geographical and existential peripheries” in this
Pontificate and there is “an identity of
thinking” between Archbishop Romero and the new Pope, who announced he
would like to see the Catholic Church be “a
poor Church for the poor.”
3. Pope
Francis meets with President Funes.
In an extraordinary development, the President of El Salvador met in the Vatican with the Pope and discussed the progress of the beatification
cause. Pope Francis told Pres. Mauricio
Funes that “we must have faith” that
Romero will be beatified soon, and he heard words of gratitude from the
President for unblocking the cause.
Funes also told the Pontiff about Archbishop Romero’s importance in El
Salvador and he presented the Pope with a reliquary containing a piece of
Romero’s blood stained vestments the martyr bishop wore when he was killed.
4. Closure
of Tutela Legal. The darkest
cloud on the sunny Romero sky of 2013 was the surprising decision by the
current Archbishop of San Salvador, Msgr. José Luis Escobar Alas, to close down
the successor entity to the human rights office founded by Archbishop Romero. The Archdiocese’s commitment to human rights
work was embodied by that office and its abrupt closure called into question
whether war crime victims represented by the office would have standing to
continue their lawsuits, whether the crucial documentation of war crimes kept
by the office would be maintained, and whether Romero’s enormous contribution
to human rights would be squandered.
5. Giant
Romero painting at World Youth Day papal event. When Pope Francis went to Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, to lead the Catholic World Youth Day, he wanted to be sure to visit one
of the city’s slums to show his closeness with the poor. When he got there, he found a giant poster of
Archbishop Romero looming over the soccer field where the slum rally was
held. The billboard was created by
Salvadoran artists who had been trying to make a splash with it at World Youth
Day since 2005. They did so this year.
6. St.
George’s Southwark opens “Romero space”. On a late summer’s evening in September, more
than 1,200 people, many of whom had made long journeys from around Britain to
be present came to the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. George in
Southwark (London) to inaugurate a space dedicated to Archbishop Romero and to
bless a large “Romero Cross,” in the style pioneered by the Salvadoran muralist
Fernando Llort, and created by the Salvadoran master in El Salvador. Ambassadors and High Commissioners, members
of Parliament and other government officials, were present, as well as
ecumenical representations of both the Catholic and Anglican faiths, and
others, including Romero’s secretary and his younger brother who traveled from
El Salvador to attend.
7. Romero
statue at L.A.’s Macarthur Park.
The Salvadoran community of Los Angeles inaugurated a statue of Archbishop Romero at the city’s Macarthur Park, located in a heavily Central
American neighborhood, and both the mayor and the archbishop of Los Angeles
were on hand for the unveiling. Archbishop
José H. Gómez referred to Romero as a “great
martyr” who “inspires all of us to
build a better world, a world that promotes human dignity and the common good
for the human family” more than thirty years after his death. Mayor Eric Garcetti told the crowd, “This is more than a monument of a man. This is a monument that salutes courage.” The statue was crafted in El Salvador and
blessed at the Divine Providence Chapel where Romero was killed.
8. Cardinal
Ortega at El Salvador’s Eucharistic Congress. The Archdiocese of San Salvador celebrated its
centenary with a Jubilee Year, which it closed out with a Eucharistic
Congress. Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega
attended as the Pope’s representative.
That he spoke in favor of Archbishop Romero’s canonization at the
closing Mass was not surprising. He also
visited and prayed at the cancer hospital where Romero lived, and visited his
tomb underneath the Cathedral crypt.
What was truly remarkable was that Romero was given a prominent spot
during the Eucharistic Congress.
Archbishop Romero always looked back to the last national Eucharistic
Congress, held in 1942, and the social message from Pope Pius XII received for
that Congress. That Romero himself would
be the subject of the papal messenger at the second Eucharistic Congress shows
how far he has advanced to be seen together with his nation's spiritual identity.
9. Friendly
coverage in L’Osservatore Romano. As if an expansive quotation and write-up in
the official Church newspaper were not enough, the feature on Archbishop Romero
was also included in the women’s section—making
him the first man to be so featured. The
unmistakable import of the coverage was explained a member of the editorial
staff who noted that Romero’s message was “close to [the
words] often pronounced by Pope Francis
in his daily homilies, in which he recalls with affection and admiration
grandmothers and mothers who transmit life together with the faith to their
children and grandchildren.”
10. 33rd
anniversary observed. As of this
year, Oscar Romero has been a martyr as long as Jesus Christ was alive and the
anniversary of his death was marked by local and global commemorations. At the local level, major events were held in
San Salvador, London and Rome. In the
eternal city, Argentine Nobel laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel was the keynote
speaker. He received an audience with
Pope Francis ahead of his appearance at the event. Internationally, the Church marks March 24 as
the Day of Prayer and Fasting for Missionary Martyrs and the U.N. as the International
Day of the Right to Truth regarding serious violations of human rights.
Finally, on this blog, we adopted «Romero for the Year of Faith» as our
theme and expanded coverage to try to keep up with fast breaking canonization
news. Notably, we implemented a three
languages policy on Pentecost and have been posting in English, Spanish and
Italian ever since, in an effort to make the blog’s content available to a
large swath of the Catholic world. Other
mileposts included new alliances, distribution and promotion efforts, and
100,000 page views. Look for new
projects next year, including a problem we will be all too glad to have—life after beatification, for a beatification
blog!Prior Year Reports:
Top 10 of 2012
Top 10 of 2011
Top 10 of 2010
Top 10 of 2008
Top 10 of 2007
Roundup 2006 (Spanish)
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