BEATIFICATION OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO,
MAY 23, 2015
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During his trip
to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay, Pope Francis has a traveling companion in
Blessed Oscar A. Romero, the martyred archbishop of El Salvador. Many
news stories about the trip have mentioned Romero's beatification this past May as one of the
salient points of the Bergoglio pontificate and the papal visit’s emphasis on
poverty and social inequality make Blessed Romero a point of reference for this
visit.
Blessed Romero figured
in the trip from the moment the pontiff first stepped onto Latin American soil
when President Rafael Correa, in his speech welcoming Francis to Ecuador, said:
“Thank God the Latin American Church has
given us extraordinary pastors, such as Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, martyr
of our America, recently beatified by you.”
Pope Francis
himself framed Romero in a Latin American context when, in his expansive message
for the beatification of the martyr, he spoke of a “day of celebration for the Salvadoran nation, and also for the beautiful
Latin American countries.” He also said that the message of Archbishop
Romero was a call to unity around peace and reconciliation with relevance to
the entire continent. “It is to this that
the Church in El Salvador, in America and in the entire world is called to
today: to be rich in mercy, to become a leaven of reconciliation for society.”
If these
statements did not put Romero at the forefront of the news, then the
theological message of this trip would make Romero a reference for the
apostolic visitation. Responding to the welcome message of the President of
Ecuador, His Holiness paraphrased
his hope for Latin America: “that the
growth in progress and development already registered will be strengthened and
ensure a better future for everyone, with particular concern for the most
vulnerable of our brothers and sisters who are the debt still outstanding in
Latin America.” Days before leaving Rome, the Pope published his evangelizing
intention for the month of July that would frame his journey: “That, amid social inequalities, Latin
American Christians may bear witness to love for the poor and contribute to a
more fraternal society.”
All this makes
us think of one of the phrases with which Archbishop Romero was elevated
to the altars: that he was an “Evangelizer
and Father of the Poor.” In his homily
at the Bicentennial Park in Quito on July 7, Francis expounded on the subject
of evangelization, preaching that “Evangelization
does not consist in proselytizing.” Instead of proselytizing, the Pope urged,
“may you have the same feelings of Jesus.
May each of you be a witness to a fraternal communion which shines forth in our
world! How beautiful it would be if all
could admire how much we care for one another, how we encourage and help each
other.”
He concluded: “This is what it means to evangelize; this is
our revolution – because our faith is always revolutionary –, this is our
deepest and most enduring cry.” The Pope's words seem to explain the phrase
from the beatification of Archbishop Romero and the praxis of Blessed Romero
seems to illustrate the preaching of the pope. By their mutual reference, the
Holy Father and the Blessed Romero are fellow travelers in the evangelization
of the continent.
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