BEATIFICATION OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO,
MAY 23, 2015
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Without a
doubt, Blessed Oscar A. Romero of El Salvador is one of the top Catholic
newsmakers of the year. If you are
declared a martyr of the faith, have an asteroid named after you, are named
patron saint of two worldwide Catholic organizations, and your beatification is
hailed as “the top church story in Latin
America”—as the Spanish Catholic newspaper Vida Nueva just did for Romero—then it can fairly be said
you had an astonishing year. All of that
was Oscar Romero this year, with signs of continued newsworthiness in the
future. Here are the Top 10 stories of the Romero Year.
1. ROMERO
RECOGNIZED AS A MARTYR
Early in the
year, a panel of Vatican theologians, followed by a commission of cardinals and
bishops, then the Pope himself, unanymously approved a finding that Romero was a martyr of the Church
because he was killed “in hatred of the faith.”
It was a historic decision, with theological, historical, and political repercussions
felt from the Vatican to San Salvador.
Although the beatification ceremony outshined it in terms of spectacle,
this pivotal decision was a tectonic shift in the trajectory of the cause and
similarly important to the history of the Church.
2. ROMERO BEATIFIED
IN SPLENDID SAN SALVADOR CEREMONY
Archbishop
Romero was beatified in San Salvador on May 23rd, the Saturday before Pentecost,
in an outdoor ceremony with half a million in attendance. “It was
splendid,” said the Vaticanista Luis Badilla. “Nothing
was missing and nothing abounded. It was a ceremony about dignity in poverty,
just like Romero.” It was the
largest non-papal beatification ceremony in church history, and it was “a
planetary celebration”
covered by 3,000 journalists and broadcast around the world by 14 TV networks,
including Salt + Light TV in Canada, TeleSur in South America, ESNE in the
Americas and Europe, TV2000 in Italy, and CNN En Español in the USA.
3. POPE
FRANCIS RECOGNIZES CHURCH TREATED ROMERO UNJUSTLY
In remarkably candid remarks, Pope Francis told a delegation of
Salvadorans at the Vatican that Archbishop Romero had been “defamed, slandered, soiled—that is, his
martyrdom continued even by his brothers in the priesthood and in the
episcopate” in pointed criticisms of Romero before and after his
death. Although every canonization meets
resistance within the Church, the resistance to Romero had been more
entrenched, and thus the Pope’s willingness to acknowledge it signaled a desire
to let the bad air out of the controversy.
4. ROMERO AIDE
ENSNARED IN CHILD SEX ABUSE SCANDAL
When a solar
halo appeared, seemingly miraculously, during the beatification ceremony, it
made the story of Romero’s beatification appear like a completely positive and
gilded story. A major black spot
appeared six months later, when the Salvadoran Church announced that Romero’s
collaborator, biographer, and historian, Msgr. Jesus Delgado, had sexually
abused a parishioner from the time she was 9 years-old, until aged 17. The news has not affected Romero’s cause, as
his name has never been implicated the church abuse scandals despite almost
constant smear-campaigns directed at him over 35 years (see no. 3 above).
5. THREE
MIRACLES REPORTED WITHIN SIX MONTHS
When the
Salvadoran Church announced in October that it had identified three miracle cures through Romero’s intercession, it was
seen as a sign that Romero could move very quickly to canonization. After his beatification last year, Romero
needs one certified miracle to be declared a saint. Following the announcement, the archdiocese
forwarded preliminary reports to Rome and is awaiting instructions on which of
the cures to submit as the qualifying canonization miracle (two of the three
are supposedly “first class” miracles).
6. SCIENTISTS
NAME ASTEROID AFTER ROMERO
Catholic news
outlets, including Vatican Radio, and Salvadorans, including the president of
El Salvador who retweeted the news, were mesmerized when scientists named a minor planet after Archbishop
Romero in August. The news was particularly dazzling in El
Salvador, where Romero’s countrymen were amazed to see their martyred
archbishop so recognized.
7. THE
GLOBAL CHURCH EMBRACES ROMERO
Around the
world, Church support coalesced around the newly minted Blessed. Caritas Internationalis and the World
Catholic Association for Communication (SIGNIS) adopted Romero as a patron
saint. Various leading churchmen offered
masses of thanksgiving for Romero’s beatification—including in Chicago, Los
Angeles, and London. A Roman Catholic
parish was named after Romero in California, as well as several chapels in
South America.
8. THE SALVADORAN
CHURCH ADOPTS ROMERO AS ITS STANDARD
In El Salvador,
the local church modified the liturgy so that Romero’s name is invoked in every
Mass. The bishops have ordered Romero’s
image to be displayed in every Church and they named their major seminary after
him. Romero’s relics have been touring
the country, parish by parish, and have received a reverent reception at every
stop. In short, the ecclesial community
long accused of neglecting Romero has now adopted him as the face of their
church.
9. POPE
FRANCIS DEFINES ROMERO
In the first
two years of his pontificate, Pope Francis only spoke about Romero once, when
at the end of the second year, he was asked about Romero by journalists. All that changed this year, when Francis
spoke about Romero on six public occasions, including a general audience, an Angelus recitation, a Regina Caeli prayer, a speech to a
visiting Salvadoran delegation (see no. 3 above), a lengthy letter to the
Salvadoran church, and his year-end remarks to the Roman Curia. That’s twice as many references as Pope
Benedict made during his whole pontificate!
10. RUTILIO
GRANDE NEXT-IN-LINE FOR BEATIFICATION
The news that Fr.
Rutilio Grande is moving fast toward becoming the second Salvadoran ‘Blessed’
is gratifying both because Grande was Romero’s friend, but also because Church
authorities are talking about beatifying Grande and canonizing Romero together, soon.
Meanwhile, this
blog completed its ninth year: blogging the beatification live and on location,
and providing complete coverage and analysis of the ceremony and its various
texts in the months since. A post from
this blog was republished in L’Osservatore
Romano, and the asteroid story, first published here, was picked up by Vatican
Insider, Vatican Radio, various Salvadoran papers, and Rome Reports. We forged a blog partnership with Daily
Theology, and provided a number of special reports, including the recent “Romero in Cuba.”
Prior Year Reports:
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