Romero beatification update #5

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No date was announced this week for the beatification of Archbishop Óscar A. Romero.  As a result, there were no new announcements regarding other commemorative events, which will be planned contingent on the beatification date.

The lack of an announcement this week makes it seem unlikely that the beatification will take place on March 24, the 35th anniversary of Romero’s martyrdom, which had appeared within striking distance last week.  Now, sources on the ground tell Super Martyrio that the scuttlebutt is that the announcement of a date will be made on the anniversary, though the same sources cautioned that this is just speculation, as there has been no information from official sources.

According to President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, the church-government beatification planning commission includes Archbishop Léon Kalenga Badikebele, Apostolic Nuncio to El Salvador; Msgr. José Luis Escobar Alas, Archbishop of San Salvador; Salvadoran Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez; and Secretary of Governability and Communications Franzi Hato Hasbún Barake (pictured). However, according to sources from the commission, the date will be decided by the Vatican.  They specifically say the Pope.

In case you missed it, here are the significant recent developments in the case:

·         Wednesday, January 7, 2015: Pope Francis quotes Romero at his General Audience

·         Thursday, January 8, 2015: a Particular Congress of Theologians at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, having reviewed the over 1,100 page-long ‘Positio’, votes unanimously to recognize that Archbishop Romero was killed ‘in odium fidei’

·         Tuesday, February 3, 2015: the commission of cardinals and bishops at the CCS votes, again, unanimously, to ratify the previous theologians’ vote recognizing Archbishop Romero’s martyrdom

·         Tuesday, February 3, 2015: that same day, Pope Francis approves a decree recognizing Archbishop Romero’s martyrdom

·         Wednesday, February 4, 2015: Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, postulator of the cause, holds a Vatican press conference, informing on the case, but not announcing a date

Super Martyrio will continue to monitor developments and provide an update every Friday regarding plans for the beatification, as well as for commemorations of Romero's anniversary in March and his birthday in August.

Read last week’s update here.