Romero canonization, consistory and other details

ROMERO CANONIZATION: WHEN AND WHERE? JUBILEE YEAR for the CENTENNIAL of BLESSED ROMERO, 2016 — 2017
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#BlessedRomero #Beatification

With the announcement from the Holy See confirming that Archbishop Romero will be among the saints whose causes will be discussed at the next consistory to be held on May 19, we are seeing things begin to come together. For example, until now, it was only an assumption (although, we would say a very logical one) that Archbishop Romero’s cause would be on the consistory agenda; now we have the explicit assurance that it will be so.

Behind the curtains, final details are being established. Following the announcement from the Holy See on the consistory agenda, it is increasingly clear that Romero’s canonization will be in Rome, in a ceremony presided by the Pope in St. Peter’s Square, probably in October. Multiple sources consulted by Super Martyrio now concede that the possibility of the ceremony taking place on Central American soil has faded away, and what remains to be defined is the date for the ceremony in Rome, as several sources point to different Sundays during the synod of bishops in October [Update: this fact was confirmed by Msgr. Rafael Urrutia, vice-postulator of the Cause, in a Saturday tweet in which he said, “I will await you in Rome in October. It shall be a great celebration”].

Vatican correspondent Francesco Grana unleashed speculation that the date would be October 14. From the beginning, the postulators of Paul VI—the pope who will also be canonized this year—has been working under the presumption that the date would be October 21. However, the Rome Reports website quotes Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga as saying that Paul VI and Romero will be canonized on October 28.

In all the coverage that has been given to these canonizations since the beginning of the year, and up to now, it is striking how Paul VI and Archbishop Romero are the main attractions in the upcoming ceremony. (More mysterious it is to ponder the fate of British Cardinal Blessed John Henry Newman, whose canonization had been heralded for this year, but about which there has been no news.)

Salvadoran Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez will be in Rome this weekend, where he will participate in a parish visit by the Pope to his titular church, the parish of the Blessed Sacrament in Tor de 'Schiavi, on the outskirts of Rome, this Sunday. During his visit, Francis will bless a charity project built to honor Romero, alongside the cardinal who worked as a collaborator of the martyred bishop whose rise to the altars draws near.  They will be joined by the Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

But Rosa Chavez’s trip is not just about symbolic rituals: he will also be working to finalize various aspects of the canonization. For example, according to reports from Spain, the prelate has been in contact with an artist, the Salvadoran resident of Barcelona, ​​Gerardo Jose Granados, whose portrait of Romero, depicted alongside symbols from the Mayan calendar, is being considered to be the official image for the ceremony (see illustration).

These symbols of the Mayan calendar help us to scrutinize the canonization calendar as we wonder what its final configuration will look like.

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