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JUBILEE YEAR for the CENTENNIAL of BLESSED
ROMERO, 2016 — 2017
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| John Paul II’s popemobile parades through San Salvador. |
Pope Francis’
pastoral visit to the central Italian region of Tuscany on Thursday shows that
at least one of the options suggested by the Salvadoran bishops for the
canonization of Archbishop Romero is eminently doable. Cardinal Gregorio Rosa
Chávez told Vatican Radio: “The bishops
of El Salvador wrote the pope a letter asking him that the canonization be in
my country and that, if it was not possible, that he should pass through and visit Romero when he goes to Panama next
year.” According to the Salvadoran prelate, the Pope “loved
the idea of visiting the tomb,” but “everything depends on decisions that have to be evaluated.”
Although the
idea of canonizing Romero in Central America during the trip to the World
Youth Day in January 2019 is problematic (because it would change the whole
tenor of the trip), the option of making a limited visit to San Salvador,
of a private character, to visit Romero’s tomb seems feasible from many points of
view. The option seems to fit with the practice in this pontificate of making
private visits to pay homage to certain church figures, for example the visit
Francis is making during a
trip to the Tuscany region this Thursday, May 10, to the tomb of Fr. Zeno Saltini, founder of a religious community. Francis had already made
similar gestures by visiting the tombs of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina in March and
of Bishop Tonino Bello in April of this year; and of the Italian priests
Lorenzo Milani and Primo Mazzolari in 2017. These are discreet, low profile trips
that highlight the spiritual dimension of each visit.
A spiritual
visit to Romero’s tomb would also put into practice the advice that the pope himself gave to the Salvadoran bishops during the last ad limina visit they made in March 2017, to make the places
associated with Romero “places of pilgrimage.”
The pope wants Romero’s tomb and other sites related to him to become pilgrimage
destinations in order to promote his values in Salvadoran society. The Salvadoran
martyr’s tomb is already acquiring that status, having attracted such visitors
as Pres. Barack Obama, Pope John Paul II, Secretary-General of the United
Nations Ban Ki-moon, Princess Mako of Japan and the presidents of Taiwan,
Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador, to name a few. Francis’ visit
would be the third papal visit (John Paul visited twice) and seal the tomb’s
distinction as a great continental pilgrimage destination.
A lightning
visit to San Salvador also fits the new vision of papal travel in the Francis
pontificate, which has already included at least four one-day trips, including
his trip in 2014 to Strasbourg to address the European Council; that trip
lasted only four hours. That same year, Francis made an 11-hour visit to
Albania, where he paid homage to 38 martyrs who were subsequently beatified. The
following year, he traveled to Sarajevo, to encourage its populace on their way
from a past of war towards a future of prosperity and peace. Obviously, El
Salvador fits that context.
Moreover, El
Salvador is a small country, and state visits are usually limited to only one
day. The two visits of John Paul II were one-day visits, as were the visits of
four US presidents to that nation (Obama stayed two days).
The only
drawback would be the proximity of the trip to Panama for WYD, which takes
place between January 22 and 27, and the Salvadoran presidential elections on
February 3. However, electoral proximity was not an impediment to the papal
visit to Sri Lanka in 2015.
In El
Salvador, there has not been a papal visit since John Paul II last visited 22
years ago, on that occasion to celebrate the achievement of peace after the
civil war that roiled that nation. The faithful remember John Paul’s two visits with nostalgia, so much so that they have even taken the popemobile that he used out in
processions.
If the
Salvadoran bishops succeed in convincing Francis, the saint produced by
the war could be the reason for the return of a pontiff to El Salvador, even if he
is canonized in Rome.
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