BEATIFICATION OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO,
MAY 23, 2015
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| Francis and the Salvadorans. L'Osservatore Romano. |
Seven
bishops, two government ministers and more than 500 Salvadorans residing in
Italy were greeted by Pope Francis last week and they came away from the
meeting with clear indications of a Pontiff who yearns to canonize Archbishop
Romero and beatify Fr. Rutilio Grande, but is also very determined about how to
go about it. Reporting on the meeting, the media have focused
so exclusively on the perceived criticisms by Francis (a narrative that
matches the image of Francis as a tireless reformer squaring off with ideological
enemies) that they have overlooked the biggest warning he gave to the Salvadoran
Church—which is not contained in his speech, either the one he prepared in
advance or the improvised part.
The same Pope
who “unblocked” the beatification of Archbishop Romero seems prepared to put
the brakes on it, or at least impose reasonable conditions to ensure as his papal
predecessors tried to do, that the beatification is opportune for Salvadoran
society.
On the one
hand, there is no doubt that Francis has deep admiration for Romero and Fr. Grande,
and that he wants to drive their causes to their good conclusions. The affection and
devotion of the Pope were in evidence during the audience—above all, in his
speech, in which called Romero and Grande “a
treasure and a founded hope” for the Church and for Salvadoran society. [TEXT.]
He added that “the impact of their
commitment is still perceived in our days. By the grace of the Holy Spirit,
they were configured with Christ, as so many witnesses of the faith of all
times.”
When the
Salvadoran bishops presented to him a scapular with a piece of corporal containing
Romero’s blood as a gift, the Pope was visibly moved and he kissed the
reliquary that was presented to him (an unusual gesture, not seen with other
sacred objects he has been given). More than anything, the admiration for
Romero was evident in his speech in which he spoke passionately of Romero as “a man who continues to be martyr”,
because he is still being slandered. “After
giving his life, he continued to give it, letting himself be scourged by all
those misunderstandings and calumnies. That
gives me strength...”
When Francis
received Msgr. Rafael Urrutia, Vice-postulator of Fr. Grande, he spoke
unambiguously of his interest in advancing the cause: “Hurry up, Man ... Get on it ... As soon as possible”,
were the phrases with which the Pope reiterated his haste, eliciting comments that roles had been reversed between Pontiff and postulator. Greeting Fr. Rodolfo
Cardenal, biographer of Fr. Grande, Francis asked him if any miracles had been attributed
to Fr. Grande. A bit puzzled at the moment, Cardenal said no (at this stage that
seeks to establish Grande’s martyrdom, it is not pertinent to talk about
miracles). The Pope graciously corrected him, saying that Archbishop Romero is Rutilio Grande’s miracle.
Despite his
enthusiasm, Francis has given distinct guidelines that he wants to impose
discipline and purpose on the process. There are two principles in this regard: first, there will be no waiver of the procedural
requirements. I.e., it will be necessary to verify a miracle for
Archbishop Romero (no “equipollent canonization”) and a recognition of the
martyrdom of Fr. Grande by Vatican theologians. Secondly—and this is the most
interesting—according to Msgr. Gregorio Rosa Chavez, Auxiliary Bishop of San
Salvador, “The Pope needs to see a country that is making strides for
reconciliation” and at the moment the “conditions” are not present, due
to soaring homicide rates due to the gang problem. Obviously, the Church needs
to ‘hurry up … get on it” and work
on this problem ‘as soon as possible.’
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