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From the Archbishop Oscar A. Romero
Foundation to the People of God and to the general public:
[Super Martyrio Translation]
This past week
we heard the
announcement by the Mayor of San Salvador Norman Quijano that all City
Council members had approved changing the name of “St. Anthony Abbott Street”
(Calle San Antonio Abad), running from the University of El Salvador to 75th
Avenue North, for Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, the name of the person who has
been identified as the murderer of Archbishop Romero
by the Truth Commission appointed by the United Nations and by most of the
Salvadoran people, as well as by key witnesses who participated in the
execution of the murder of our Pastor and Martyr, such as the statements of
former Army Captain Alvaro Saravia, published on March 22, 2010 by a digital
newspaper under the title, “How
we killed Archbishop Romero.” The US Ambassador to El Salvador at the
time, Robert White, has called Mr. D'Aubuisson a “Pathological
Murderer.”
We are offended
by this news but not surprised, because we know that those who applauded the
brutal murder of Archbishop Romero continue to possess hearts of stone and
continue to worship their eternal idols: power and money.
Our indignation
is also based on the thinking of our Archbishop, Monsignor José Luis Escobar,
who on Sunday November 30, in an interview with reporters, clearly expressed
his opinion in opposition to the name change.
It seems a
rather crude decision because it is taken just as, according to reports from
representatives of the Catholic Church, we are getting closer to an eventual
beatification and subsequent canonization of Archbishop Romero, recognizing in
him a martyr's death and a life that adhered to the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth
and to the Magisterium of the Church.
Just as we
approach the time when the Church will officially tell us what the populace has
already recognized for years, that this great Pastor, Prophet and Martyr is an
example to follow in our Christian lives, these individuals come forward who
want to exalt the figure of his murderer. This can only come from a diabolical
urge. Although, as Christians, we hope that the Lord has mercy.
With this
arrogant attitude that characterizes them, they ignore the recommendations of
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which in its ruling on April 13,
2000 asks the Salvadoran government to avoid making tributes to the murderers
and that it rather exalt the figure of the Archbishop.
Monseñor
[Romero] was killed because of his fidelity to the Gospel and the Magisterium
of the Church.
We reject this
decision of Mayor Quijano, his Municipal Council and others behind them. At the
same time we call God's people and all people of good will to express,
peacefully, their repudiation of the decision of said Council.
“I will send them
prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute, so that the
blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be
charged against this generation” (Luke 11:49-50)
San Salvador,
December 4, 2014
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