THE BROTHERHOOD OF PAUL VI

In his new, social encyclical, CARITAS IN VERITATE, Pope Benedict pays effusive tribute to his predecessor, Pope Paul VI, the pope who is seen as especially supportive of Archbishop Romero and his ministry in San Salvador. Romero himself said that Paul VI "confirmed me in the faith, in my service, in my joy to work and suffer with Christ, for the Church and for" the Salvadoran people. Romero cited Paul's own social encyclical, POPULORUM PROGRESSIO in sixteen different sermons over the three short years he was archbishop; and yesterday, Benedict called POPULORUM PROGRESSIO the most important papal statement on the Church's social doctrine of the 20th Century (Benedict called it "the RERUM NOVARUM" of our age, alluding to the first and most influential such document, by Leo XIII in the 19th Century).

In some respects, Benedict's high praise of Pope Montini was unexpected. Not because it did not demote political activism below charity as some observers have noted (though they are right that it reiterated the importance of the Church's prophetic role in public life), but because it seems to resurrect a papacy few would get excited about. The rap on Paul VI, fairly or unfairly, is that he was a Hamlet pope, lurching from progressive to conservative stances, without much keel, never pleasing either camp. Benedict's reverent fidelity to Pope Paul is reminiscent of Archbishop Romero's devotion to Pope Paul, who in his last pastoral letter recalled his visit to the new tomb of Paul VI and admired its simplicity. ("How I recalled by his tomb the warmth of his both hands grasping mine, little more than one year ago, to tell me of his concern and his love for our country, and to encourage me to accompany my people in their just grievances, so they would not stray to the paths of violance and hate").

In the very next paragraph, Romero praises the then-new pope, John Paul II, and one must only recall John Paul kneeling at Romero's grave, and Benedict saying he had "no doubt" that Romero deserved to be a saint to recognize a mutual loyalty among these men. In CARITAS IN VERITATE, Benedict also highlights John Paul's fidelity to Paul VI and to his encyclical, and part of this fidelity surely arises from the sincere dedication of these men to the Church. After all, we are talking about martyrs and popes! Another aspect to the mutual admiration surely is the generational affinity between Romero, Ratzinger and Wojtyla. Archbishop Romero was born in 1917, Karol Wojtyla was born in 1920, and Joseph Ratzinger was born in 1927. The three men grew up and worked as priests in the preConciliar period, and were called as bishops to implement the Second Vatican Council's reforms.

And there is one other shared characteristic. All three were, in some way, proteges of Pope Paul. Pope Paul VI created Wojtyla and Ratzingers as cardinals, and he appointed Romero Archbishop of San Salvador. Born in 1897, twenty years before the first of the three were born Pope Montini was a fatherly figure to all. This outstanding brotherhood will one day be seen as powerful confirmation of Pope Paul's prophetic wisdom in selecting apostles and evangelizers for the Church, and seems to confirm Pope Benedict's instinct that the world was topsy turvy, while Giovanni Battista Montini was standing perfectly upright.

MONS. ROMERO EN CARITAS IN VERITATE

La nueva carta encíclica del papa Benedicto XVI implica una importante aprobación del ministerio de Mons. Romero. La tercera encíclica, titulada «Caritas in Veritate» (“La Caridad en la Verdad”) trata temas de la doctrina social, y había sido esperada por mucho tiempo debido a retrasos en su publicación y en la claridad intelectual del papa.

C.I.V. contiene importantes elementos que avalan la pastoral de Mons. Romero, entre ellos el reconocimiento por el pontífice de que «la doctrina social de la Iglesia ... es anuncio y testimonio de la fe» (CIV 15). Ya no se puede decir que un obispo como Mons. Romero que se dedica a la justicia social se ha separado del trabajo esencial de la Iglesia, porque Benedicto predica que «El testimonio de la caridad de Cristo mediante obras de justicia, paz y desarrollo forma parte de la evangelización, porque a Jesucristo, que nos ama, le interesa todo el hombre» (CIV 15). Y como para ponerle punto final al asunto, el papa nos dice que esta parte esencial de la Iglesia «se ve impedida en muchos casos por prohibiciones y persecuciones» y que es «atestiguada por los Santos y por cuantos han dado la vida por Cristo Salvador en el campo de la justicia y la paz» (CIV 11).

En un sentido personal, Benedicto avala a Mons. Romero de manera que exalta la figura del Papa Pablo VI. De cierta forma, «Caritas in Veritate» es un homenaje monumental del Papa Montini, el pontífice que fue el gran apoyo de Mons. Romero. Benedicto se refiere 71 veces a Pablo VI en su carta de 79 párrafos; y llama a la encíclica «Populorum progressio» de Pablo VI, que fue una verdadera guía espiritual de Mons. Romero, «la Rerum novarum de la época contemporánea» (CIV 8), o sea que la considera como la declaración más importante de un papa del Siglo XX.

Este gran homenaje honra también a Mons. Romero, a quien Pablo VI dijo: «Comprendo su difícil trabajo. Es un trabajo que puede ser no comprendido, necesita tener mucha paciencia y mucha fortaleza. Ya sé que no todos piensan como usted, es difícil en las circunstancias de su país tener esa unanimidad de pensamiento, sin embargo, proceda con ánimo, con paciencia, con fuerza, con esperanza». El efecto sobre Romero fue dramático: «A mí me dejó la satisfacción de una confirmación en mi fe, en mi servicio, en mi alegría de trabajar y de sufrir con Cristo, por la Iglesia y por nuestro pueblo».

Ahora el papa Benedicto ha ratificado la valoración que su predecesor hizo sobre este fiel pastor de la doctrina social de la Iglesia, Mons. Romero.

TOP 10 ROMERO STORIES OF 2008

To be sure, 2008 was not an Oscar Romero year. The Vatican was mum on the progress of the beatification cause, and efforts to investigate his unsolved assassination seem to have lost steam after some movement the previous year. Nevertheless, the memory of Archbishop Romero persisted, and:

1. Pope Benedict cited Archbishop Romero when he received the Salvadoran bishops in their ad limina visit in February. In his fourth or fifth public remarks relating to Romero, Benedict said Romero figured among the "pastors filled with love" who preach the gospel with "fervor."

Click here to read more.

2. Wearing resplandescent, ermine-trimmed white robes, the Pontiff approached Romero again in April, when he paid tribute to a chapel honoring XX Century martyrs including Romero. The pope lit a candle at the altar where Romero's relics are kept. "The option in favor of the smallest and most poor, which mark the life of the Christian community, sometimes give rise to violent loathing," he said.

Click here to read more.

3. Pope Benedict XVI named Monsignor José Luis Escobar Alas as the new Archbishop of San Salvador. The new successor to Archbishop Romero will be instrumental in guiding Archbishop Romero's canonization cause.

Click here to read more.

4. In July, the Pope named a new prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Church institution that recognizes new saints and is studying Archbishop Romero's sainthood cause. The new prefect, Archbishop Angelo Amato, was the co-signer of the 2007 Notificatio against Jon Sobrino.

Click here to read more.

5. In August, the Salvadoran presidential candidate Mauricio Funes took part in celebrations of Archbishop Romero's birthday in Romero's home town: a sign of things to come. If Mr. Funes is elected (he has led in every poll), he would likely bring large state recognition to Archbishop Romero's cause in El Salvador for the first time.

Click here to read more.

6. Before retiring as Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins said that Archbishop Romero's canonization cause was at a standstill while the Church analyzed the question of whether he was killed for political reasons or hatred of the faith (which is required in order to qualify a person as a martyr-saint).

Click here to read more.

7. Influential Salvadoran bishop Gregorio Rosa Chávez said in an interview that Archbishop Romero's case is "ripe for sentencing." In contrast to other voices in the Church (see #6 above), Bishop Rosa said the great questions attending the beatification cause have already been answered.

Click here to read more.

8. Latin American church giant, Colombian Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, passed away this year. Through a career in CELAM (the Latin America Bishops' Conference), he became a vocal opponent of Liberation Theology and was believed to have interposed legal objections to Archbishop Romero's beatification cause that slowed down the Vatican's handling of the case.

Click here to read more.

9. In March, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano ran an extensive retrospective about Archbishop Romero, which included a clarification of the Archbishop's relationship with several popes, which sought to set straight rumors of tense relations with Rome. The report was seen as evidence of the church hierarchy's growing embrace.

Click here to read more.

10. Finally, tributes and commemorations of Archbishop Romero continued to mount, including speeches by Sr. Dianna Ortiz and Bishop Medardo Gomez, and an inclusion in a new, award-winning book about Latin American saints.

Click here and here and here to read more.
Happy new year one and all!

MONS. ROMERO EN LAS PALABRAS DE LOS PAPAS

La peor "manipulación" política sobre Mons. Romero seguramente debe ser la acusación de que Mons. Romero fue abandonado por los pontífices romanos, y en particular, por el Papa Juan Pablo II. Esta colección de pronunciamientos públicos de Juan Pablo y su sucesor Benedicto desmienten toda noción de que Mons. Romero haya sido olvidado o mal tratado por los sucesores de San Pedro hasta el dia. Estas declaraciones son solamente los pronunciamientos oficiales hechos por los pontífices durante homilías y los comentarios que acompañan la oración del "Angelus" en la plaza de San Pedro. No se incluyen las palabras que se les atribuyen haber dicho en privado o en situaciones semi-privadas.

I. JUAN PABLO II

1. Dos dias despues del asesinato de Mons. Romero, el Papa Wojtyla rezó el "Angelus" desde su estudio encima de la Plaza de San Pedro. Ya había publicado una declaración de prensa condenando el sacrílego acto pero, conmovido por el momento disertó sobre el tema al final del rezo. "Todos estamos sin palabras ante tan semejante violencia," lamentó el papa. Evidentemente consternado, el papa preguntaba, "¿Adónde, adónde va el mundo? Hoy lo repito: ¿adónde vamos?" Juan Pablo destacó que "se ha asesinado un obispo de la Iglesia de Dios en el ejercicio de su misión santificadora de la ofrenda de la Eucaristía." Aquí el papa hace incapié a las palabras de la Constitución Dogmática LUMEN GENTIUM, que dice que un obispo ejerce el "supremo sacerdocio" en la celebración de la Eucaristía porque "la participación del cuerpo y sangre de Cristo no hace otra cosa sino que pasemos a ser aquello que recibimos." En muchas reflecciones sobre el tema, Juan Pablo II siempre regresaba a la misma profundización que hizo ese día: "fue impactado en el momento más sagrado, durante la función más alta, más divina."

2. Otro día, el 25 de marzo de 1981, y otro "Angelus." El papa recordó el aniversario. "Ha trascurrido un año desde la trágica muerte del Arzobispo monseñor Romero," dijo Juan Pablo. Aquí lo tildó con una frase que usaría una y otra vez para caracterizar la actuación de Mons. Romero: "el pastor celoso, asesinado el 24 de marzo de 1980 mientras celebraba la santa misa." Juan Pablo tambien presentó a Mons. Romero como un "servidor de la Iglesia," destartalando toda acusación de que el papa alejó a Mons. Romero de la jerarquía de la Iglesia. Añadio el Santo Padre que Mons. Romero "coronó de sangre a su ministerio a favor de los más pobres y marginados." A un año del martirio de Mons. Romero, ya se dislumbra la conclusión que el la Congregación de la Doctrina de la Fe llegaría a emitir en el año 2000 -- "La Comisión ha concluido que Romero no era un obispo revolucionario, sino un hombre de la iglesia, del evangelio y de los pobres."

3. El 6 de marzo de 1983, Juan Pablo visitó la Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador y se postró ante la Tumba de Mons. Romero. No fue necesario que dijera algo, ya que la foto del papa incado ante la tumba del obispo mártir fue difundida por todo el mundo y esa imagen habló muy claramente sobre el respeto y admiración que el papa debe haber sentido para incarse ante la tumba. Sin embargo, el pontífice tambien emitió una declaración sobre el significado de su visita a Catedral: "Reposan dentro de sus muros los restos mortales de monseñor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, celoso Pastor a quien el amor de Dios y el servicio a los hermanos condujeron hasta la entrega misma de la vida de manera violenta, mientras celebraba el Sacrificio del perdón y reconciliación." Otra vez, el papa reitera que la motivación de Mons. Romero fue "el amor de Dios," un tema que otro papa recogería más de dos decadas despues, cuando Benedicto XVI recalcó ese mismo punto la primera vez que se reunió con los obispos de El Salvador (ver punto número 10).

4. Más tarde, ese mismo día, el papa se dirigió hacia Metro Centro, donde predicó una solemne misa. "¡Cuántos hogares destruidos!," aseveró el pontífice, haciendo una litanía de las lamentaciones de la guerra. "¡Cuántos refugiados, exiliados y desplazados! ¡Cuántos niños huérfanos! ¡Cuántas vidas nobles, inocentes, tronchadas cruel y brutalmente!" Contextualizando la situación de la sociedad entera, se desplazó al tema martirial: "También de sacerdotes, religiosos, religiosas, de fieles servidores de la Iglesia, e incluso de un Pastor celoso y venerado, arzobispo de esta grey, monseñor Oscar Arnulfo Romero." Por tercera vez, el papa presenta a Mons. Romero como el "pastor celoso," tratando de conducir la evolución de la imagen de monseñor por los senderos que lo podrían llevar a la santidad, que el papa ya seguramente presentía, habiendose incado ante su Tumba. Pero aquí Juan Pablo añade una advertencia: "Al recordarlo, pido que su memoria sea siempre respetada y que ningún interés ideológico pretenda instrumentalizar su sacrificio de Pastor entregado a su grey." Esta observación fue adelantada en 1983 -- antes de que se instituyera el proceso de beatificación. Así es que no se puede decir que la insistencia de la Iglesia de no politicizar ha sido un invento ex post facto para desrielar la canonización.

5. Despues, al regresar al Vaticano, el Papa Juan Pablo II reiteró lo que había dicho a los salvadoreños en El Salvador, en sus palabras dirijidas a Roma y al mundo, en su mensaje dominical. El papa mencionó que la guerra civil de El Salvador había "ocasionado ya decenas de millares de víctimas, incluido el arzobispo Oscar Romero." Pero el papa no se conformó con mencionar a Mons. Romero otra vez en la Plaza de San Pedro, sino que subrayó lo que, en su profundizar, era la causa de su muerte y las otras muertes que mencionó. "Las tensiones," dijo el pontífice, "tienen su fuente en las viejas estructuras socio-económicas, en las estructuras injustas que permiten la acumulación de la mayoría de los bienes en manos de una élite poco numerosa, juntamente con la simultánea pobreza y miseria de una enorme mayoría de la sociedad." Así es que es mentira que la Iglesia se opuso a reconocer la injusticia estructural que dio muerte a las "decenas de millares de víctimas, incluido el arzobispo Oscar Romero," en las propias palabras del Santo Padre en esta ocasión.

6. En su segunda visita a El Salvador, Juan Pablo volvió a visitar la Tumba de Mons. Romero en Catedral. Era una ocasión muy distinta a la primera. Había acabado la guerra, y El Salvador se encontraba construyendo la paz. El papa había decaído notablemente en lo físico. La Tumba de Mons. Romero había sido trasladada a la Cripta subterranea de Catedral, de acuerdo a costumbres canónicas. Muchos han renegado que el traslado de la Tumba ha sido como una forma de ocultar o enterrar el recuerdo de Mons. Romero. Pero al papa no le importaron las gradas que tuvo que bajar, ni el esfuerzo que tuvo que ejercer para llegar al sitio. Lo recordó diciendo, "Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero, brutalmente asesinado mientras ofrecía el sacrificio de la Misa y ante cuya tumba recé en mi anterior Visita Pastoral; y ahora voy a rezar de nuevo." Refutó el aseveramiento que la Iglesia quisiera ocultar y olvidar a Romero, declarándose "complacido de que su recuerdo siga vivo entre vosotros." Finalmente, dio un voto muy poco conocido sobre el estatus de santidad de Mons. Romero, diciendo acerca de él y los arzobispos Chávez y Rivera: "Estoy seguro de que ellos interceden por la Iglesia a la que amaron y sirvieron hasta el fin de sus días."

7. Regresando al Vaticano, Juan Pablo volvió a destacar a Mons. Romero en su audiencia semanal ante los peregrinos. Pero además de elogiar a Romero, el papa reconoció de forma inequívoca y positiva el papel de la iglesia martirial de El Salvador: "Allí la Iglesia ha desempeñado un papel decisivo para la reanudación del diálogo y la pacificación, pagando un altísimo precio de sangre." El papa reconoció el estado preeminente entre los mártires salvadoreños de uno en particular: "entre los cuales es muy venerado el arzobispo Oscar Arnulfo Romero." El papa, tratando de guiar el recuerdo de Mons. Romero entre los caminos seguros del derecho canónico (que prohibe rendir culto de forma premadura a un candidato a la santidad) constató que "Cuando se leyó el evangelio de las bienaventuranzas delante de la catedral donde se custodian los restos mortales," esto "reavivó en todos la voluntad de trabajar unidos por la construcción de un mundo más humano." Es como que el mismo papa está atestiguando que el recuerdo de Romero es sano, y no está siendo manipulado para fines partidiarios, sino para el bien común.

II. BENEDICTO XVI

8. Quizá el papa Ratzinger ha sido acusado por la izquierda de estar en contra de Mons. Romero y su teología aún mas agudamente que el papa Wojtyla. Pero Mons. Romero volvió a hacerse presente en la Plaza de San Pedro el 25 de marzo del 2007, cuando el papa puso como ejemplo a "los mártires, que son asesinados a causa del Evangelio." Ahora el papa Benedicto XVI añadió para dar emfasis a su argumento: "Lo subrayo recordando que ayer, 24 de marzo, aniversario del asesinato de monseñor Óscar Romero, arzobispo de San Salvador, se celebró la Jornada de oración y ayuno por los misioneros mártires." Este pequeño comentario hizo noticia alrededor del mundo, ya que muchos en los medios de comunicación social se habían creido de la tésis que a Ratzinger no le parecía el ejemplo de Romero y que el Vaticano había frenado la causa de su beatificación. El papa subrayó que los mártires son aquellos "obispos, sacerdotes, religiosos, religiosas y laicos asesinados en el cumplimiento de su misión de evangelización y promoción humana." Es notable que no dijo solamente "evangelización" sino que "evangelización y promoción humana."

9. El pontífice "ultra-conservador" concedió la declaración a favor de la causa de beatificación de Mons. Romero más franca y atrevida de todas las declaraciones públicas de los papas que consideramos aquí, cuando declaró, "No tengo duda que Romero como persona merece la beatificación." El papa hizo el comentario a bordo de su avión papal en rumbo a la Conferencia de Aparecida (Brazil) el 9 de mayo del 2007. De hecho el papa hace una síntesis del caracter de Mons. Romero que hasta a los seguidores más comprometidos les costaría superar. Dice el Santo Padre: "Fue ciertamente un gran testigo de la fe. Él fue un hombre de gran virtud cristiana, quien estuvo comprometido a la paz y en contra de la dictadura." Con esa frase, el papa descarta los criticismos más fuertes en contra de la causa. El papa reconoce que Mons. Romero pudo haberse pronunciado en contra del gobierno, "en contra de la dictadura," en las palabras de Benedicto XVI. Pero eso no descarte que fue "un hombre de gran virtud cristiana" -- es más, es el comprobante de que lo fue. "El problema," dice el pontífice, "es que algunas facciones políticas quieren apoderarse de Romero para si mismas, injustamente, como una bandera." Pero no es un "problema" sin solución, porque "la misma persona [de Romero] nos libera de estos atentados injustos."

10. Finalmente, este mismo año, Benedicto XVI completó el círculo, remontandonos a una frase empleada por Juan Pablo II, cuando les comentó a los obispos salvadoreños en visita "ad limina" que Mons. Romero estuvo lleno "de amor de Dios" y que predicaba el Evangelio "con fervor." Esas habían sido las palabras que Juan Pablo II citó el dia en que se incó ante la Tumba de Mons. Romero un cuarto de siglo atrás. (Vease punto no. 3.) Como en una imagen correspondiente a la figura de Juan Pablo ante la Tumba, el Papa Benedicto visitó un templo dedicado a la memoria de los mártires modernos, localizada en la Basílica de San Bartolomé en la Isla Tiberina en el río Tiber de Roma, donde se dice que San Pedro bautizó a los antiguos conversos. Durante su visita, el papa rezó ante un altar dedicado a los mártires de America Latina que conserva una reliquia de Mons. Romero.

No es de negar que en las relaciones entre los papas y Mons. Romero hubieron dificultades y complicaciones que superar. En todas las relaciones humanas, siempre existen mal-entendimientos, dudas, y sospechas que pueden impedir la comprensión entre las personas. Pero si bien es cierto que se debe reconocer que han habido preguntas, tambien se debe reconocer que han habido respuestas, muy positivas y respetuosas entre los papas y Mons. Romero.

ÓSCAR ROMERO and ST. PAUL

In anticipation of the Pauline Year jubilee (from June 28, 2008 to June 29, 2009) to mark the bimillennium celebrations of the birth of the Apostle Paul, Pope Benedict has authorized a special plenary indulgence to those participating in Pauline commemorations. Because of St. Paul's unparalleled status as as Christian writer and spiritual guide, it seems almost pointless to say that Archbishop Romero was influenced by Paul. It is clear that Romero was a great admirer and follower of St. Paul. More than any other Christian writer, St. Paul was the authority that Romero most often cited to confirm his message of the Gospel. Romero called St. Paul "the model of the messengers of the Church" and "a marvelous witness to the Resurrection." Beyond theology and dogma, in St. Paul, Romero found the human story that illuminated Romero's own struggle, and that of his people.

There was -- let us say it -- a correspondence between the Man of Tarsus and the Archbishop of San Salvador. By many interpretations, both men underwent a profound "conversion" that put them on a collision course with earthly power, and on a divine mission to reveal prophetic truth to the followers of Christ. In his modest way, Romero sometimes cast aside the comparisons. "Paul was a bishop like the one that is speaking to you now," Romero preached in an October 1977 sermon pointing to the timeless authority of the Church through its bishops: "naturally, with the enormous difference between his saintliness and my mediocrity." But, at other times, Romero admitted that Paul's greatest strength came from his weakness, as when he called Paul "the valiant Christian who experiences, as a man, human weakness, but who feels within the strength of the faith, the hope that God gives those who trust in Him." (Dec. 1977). Of course, we see that same strength in Romero and, at times, Romero took refuge in the shadow of St. Paul, likening his trips to Rome to bring an accounting to the Pope, the successor of Peter, to St. Paul's trips to Rome to answer to St. Peter himself. Thus, just as St. Paul became the Apostle to the Gentiles, destined to bring the Gospel of Christ to a special audience, so Romero became the prophet of the social doctrine, bringing the Gospel to a special arena of the Church. Nor was it lost on Romero that he was an apostle to formerly pagan lands: "You too, indians of America, are called to participate in the inheritance of Christ." (Jan. 1980.)

Above all, St. Paul gave Romero an object lesson in conversion and reconciliation -- the lesson he was trying to impart upon a country spiraling downward toward civil war. "He who is today a criminal can be tomorrow an apostle." (September 1979.) Romero also realized that the criminal, the persecutor, can be effective as an apostle in ways that only a rehabilitated sinner can be: "St. Paul is a marvelous witness of the Resurrection because, if there ever was aman who would not have wanted to believe in Jesus or the resurrection, it was Saul the persecutor." (Feb. 1980.) This was the secret to reconciliation, because in Romero's Pauline world, "There is room for everyone -- even for the persecutors who, like Saul, are converted to being true apostles of the Gospel." (July 1977.) This Pauline apostleship was for Romero, founded in community, in harmony, and therefore in justice. Christian fellowship required rich and poor to treat each other alike, seeing beyond the economic castes of this world to the ranks of a celestial country beyond this earth (July 1979.) This is ultimately the strength of St. Paul, who can persevere in jail as well as in freedom, because he places his trust and his faith in a greater ground of being, and he can stare down sickness and suffering and death with serenity and courage. (Oct. 1978.)

At Fr. Alfonso Navarro's funeral, Romero invoked the words of St. Paul, "inviting us to be brave, not to be cowards, to live the novelty of the Christian who has seen amongst the evils of the earth, the beauty of God's truth, which it is very dangerous to announce and to proclaim, and from that truth to denounce the injustices, the upheavals, the abuses, which are so dangerous, and which, if he had not spoken, Alfonso Navarro would still be alive. But he is the testimony of what he took from the Gospel and announced: 'Only the truth will set you free'." (May 1979.)

PERSPECTIVAS DE BEATIFICACIÓN 2008

Para el 2007 pronosticamos cabalmente en este blog que el año pasado sería «un año de no acción» para la causa de beatificación de Mons. Romero, salve de algunas conmemoraciones que se marcaban el año pasado. El pronóstico resultó correcto, a pesar de que hubieron varios desarrollos positivos en la causa de beatificación. De nuevo este año analizamos de que la posibilidad de una beatificación en el 2008 es baja, pero consideramos que podrán haber avances considerables que hagan ese resultado más probable en los próximos años.

La razón principal que reduce la probilidad de una beatificación este año es la cercanía de la elección presidencial en El Salvador el próximo año, 2009. El peligro de la «politicización» de la figura de Mons. Romero ha sidola preocupación principal en el Vaticano, que ha prolongado el proceso de beatificación de Mons. Romero. Esto fue confirmado por el papa Benedicto XVI en sus comentarios a la prensa en mayo del año pasado en que consideró que «el problema» en la causa de beatificación Romero ha sido «que una parte política lo quería tomar para sí mismo como bandera» partidista, refiriendose a la acusada manipulación de la figura del obispo mártir por la izquierda en El Salvador. Tomando en cuenta esta consideración, es muy evidente que no se podrá gestionar una beatificación con la elección en El Salvador pendiente, mucho menos cuando asuntos políticos relacionados con el caso Romero están en juego, como lo están en El Salvador, con la izquierda política acusando al gobierno de derecha de no cumplir con las recomendaciones por la Corte Internacional de Derechos Humanos en el caso. Lo más prudente en este caso, desde el punto de vista de la Iglesia, sería dejar que estos asuntos se resuelvan, antes de beatificar al que sigue siendo una figura controvertida para algunos sectores de la Iglesia.

Pero si bien es cierto que para el año en curso no hay mucha expectativa, tambien se deben reconocer los puntos positivos que se pueden establecer en el 2008. El primero es el nombramiento de un nuevo Arzobispo de San Salvador, que se espera para este año, despues de la renuncia por razones canónicas del arzobispo actual. El prelado responsable por la diocesis de origen del candidato a la santidad juega un papel inprescindible en el proceso de canonización. En segundo lugar, la elección del nuevo presidente y del nuevo gobierno, tambien tendrá que ver, ya que si el nuevo gobierno es más abierto a la canonización de Mons. Romero, la «politicización» de la cuasa será mucho menor a lo que se puede dar con un gobierno de derecha. Entonces, estos dos procesos, el del nuevo arzobispo y el del nuevo presidente, tendrán algún impacto sobre el proceso de beatificación.

En el ámbito religioso, el elemento de vigilar es la publicación de una nueva esperada encíclica social por el papa Benedicto. Según algunos reportes, esta se espera para el 19 de marzo, escasamente cinco dias antes del aniversario de Mons. Romero. El año pasado, Benedicto recordó el aniversario de Mons. Romero cuando este coincidió con su oración del «Angelus» del 25 de marzo. En sus cartas encíclicas anteriores, Benedicto tambien ha reconocido a obispos destacados en el tema que estas trataban. Por ejemplo, en «Deus Caritas Est», el santo padre reconoció a obispos progresivos que habían estado al vanguardia del tema social cuando la jerarquía no habia registrado el problema. Escribía el papa: «Se debe admitir que los representantes de la Iglesia percibieron sólo lentamente que el problema de la estructura justa de la sociedad se planteaba de un modo nuevo. No faltaron pioneros: uno de ellos, por ejemplo, fue el Obispo Ketteler de Maguncia». El santo padre escribía esto como un dato de fondo, recalcando la historia de la doctrina social en sus orígenes en el siglo XIX. Será interesante ver que dirá el santo padre sobre la situación actual o reciente, en que otros autores siempre han reconocido el papel importante de Mons. Romero.

TOP ROMERO STORIES OF 2007

As a tribute to Archbishop Romero's prediction that, "If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people," here is a recap Romero's presence in El Salvador and elsewhere, during the recently concluded year.

1. Pope Benedict tells the press, "That Romero as a person merits beatification, I have no doubt." Although the statement was later revised and finessed by the Vatican to ensure due deference to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Benedict's unedited, off-the-cuff statement reveals that the Church, at its highest echelons, sees Romero much like the rest of the Christian faithful regard him. The Pope also said, that Romero "was certainly a great witness to the faith. He was a man of great Christian virtue, who was committed to peace and against the dictatorship." The significance of the final point has not been commented on, but the Pontiff here acknowledges that the Salvadoran government at the time was a "dictatorship," and that Romero's opposition to it was consistent with "great Christian virtue." More: click here.

2. OAS Controversy: Tutela Legal puts the Salvadoran government to task over El Salvador's lack of compliance with recommendations by the human rights tribunal of the Organization of American States calling for investigation and reparations for Archbishop Romero's assassination. In the October hearing on the matter, the parties revealed that the government had been holding secret negotiations with the Archdiocese of San Salvador over the matter. This revelation lead to a great outcry. Archbishop Sáenz placated the controversy by assuring broad consultations with civil society and not some secret deal. He quietly fired his lawyer, who was not so quiet in his departure. The fallout from the unresolved assassination also pulled the plug on attempts to bestow legislative honors on the man believed to have ordered the murder, with former U.S. Ambassador Robert White urging Salvadorans to demand accountability from the ruling party, founded by the presumed mastermind of the crime. More: click here.

3. Tony Saca and Hugo Chávez agree on one thing -- that Romero deserves to be recognized. The Salvadoran government announced that it would lobby the Vatican for the beatification of Archbishop Romero. Although the move was criticized as a cynical ploy to avoid having to comply with OAS recommendations to investigate and prosecute the case (see story No. 1), it was the first time the Salvadoran state had made a public statement to acknowledge the special place in its history Archbishop Romero holds. It was also, as far as we could tell, the first time ANY government would intervene formally in a canonization case. Not to be outdone, the government of Venezuela hosted a theological conference and opened a website dedicated to Romero. A skeptic there might question why the Chávez regime would care about the Salvadoran cleric, when it has such lousy relations with El Salvador and with the Catholic Church. Or, perhaps there is the intented rub. More: click here and here.

4. Pope Benedict recalls Archbishop Romero during his March 25 "Angelus" prayer. The second time Benedict XVI evoked Archbishop Romero last year was the day after the anniversary of Romero's death. The date -- March 24 -- has been widely adopted by the Church for its commemoration of its "Missionary Martyrs," an off-the-liturgical-calendar-holiday that has spread from Europe to Asia, and many places where it has been taken up with Evangelical zeal. This is literally true, as in modern times, as in the early days of Christianity, "martyrs are the seeds of the Church." The Pope's invocation of Archbishop Romero in St. Peter's Square was the not the first time a pope would cite Archbishop Romero in his official remarks to pilgrims at the Vatican. Pope John Paul did so in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1996. Pope Benedict's reference was correctly interpreted as a signal that the Vatican continues to hold Romero in very high regard. More: click here.

5. Óscar Romero, ¡presente! -- at the Latin American Bishops' Conference in Aparecida. Although the bickering Salvadoran bishops did not elect Archbishop Romero to attend the CELAM conference in 1979, Archbishop Romero's presence has been felt at every gathering of the continent's bishops since Puebla. At the May meeting in Brazil, Romero was cited by none other than his successor, the retiring Archbishop Sáenz. Other bishops also brought up Romero, and even took up a furtive bid to have Romero mentioned in the final document. Msgr. Jesús Delgado and other members of the Salvadoran delegation also kept Romero's name in the air in the hallways of Aparecida. Although there was no dramatic acclamation, the conference that began with the press reporting the Pope's belief that Romero "merits beatification" (see story No. 1), appeared to ratify much of Romero's pastoral approach, in light of the social doctrine of the Church and its "preferential option for the poor." More: click here and here.

6. British Catholics launch the Archbishop Romero Trust. Dedicated by the Catholics, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, and Anglican Archbishops Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, the Trust was established "to promote knowledge and awareness of the life and work of Archbishop Romero, to commemorate the anniversary of his death annually, and to provide support to human rights and justice initiatives in Latin America." In March, London became the second major European capital where Romero's martyrdom will be formally commemorated with an annual mass (it is already commemorated in Rome by Catholic charities activists like the Londoners involved in the Trust). The Trust also produced an audio report that was aired on Vatican Radio. More: click here and here.

7. High ranking Church officials have continued to praise Archbishop Romero's saintly qualities. In February, this blog named "Doce Cardenales Simpatizantes" -- "Twelve Sympathetic Cardinals," who had endorsed Archbishop Romero's canonization cause or recognized his martyrdom. The list was based on published materials and may not include ALL the cardinals with such beliefs but, nonetheless, the group would represent a significant group in the College of Cardinals. Leading clerics continued to join the litany of the sainthood supporters. Archbishop Paolo Romeo of Palermo stated that "`hatred of the faith' (the legal requirement for martyrdom) was obvious" in Romero's beatification cause. Even across denominational divides, the Archbishop of York John Sentamu quoted Romero in his homilies and took to wearing a Salvadoran cross (see also story No. 6). More: click here and here.

8. Archbishop Romero's name continued to be synonymous with heroic acts of conscience in awards set up in his name. Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss and the immigration activist group No More Deaths took the prestigious Oscar Romero Award for Human Rights awarded by the Houston-based Rothko Chapel, a church that advocates for human rights. Previous recipients include Sister Diana Ortiz, the American nun who was tortured in Guatemala. At Boston College in Massachussets, Genoveva Abreu was named as the Oscar Romero Scholarship recipient. For several years running, BC has been awarding the Romero Scholarship to students who demonstrate altruistic merit by their community service or interest in human rights. At long last, an "Oscar" we can all strive to win? More: click here and here.

9. British expert to preserve Romero vestments. From now on, the vestments that Archbishop Romero was wearing on March 24, 1980, when an assassin's bullet cut him down at the altar, will no longer hang in a common clotheshanger in a glass case. Instead, the relics will be displayed in a way that exhibits the precious garments to the faithful AND preserves their integrity for generations to come. Jan Graffius, a preservation expert from Stonyhurst College in England, came down to San Salvador as part of the outreach of the newly formed Romero Trust (see also story No. 6). "Handling and examining these vestments was an emotional experience and a great responsibility," said Ms. Graffius. "If, as is expected, Monseñor Romero is beatified in the near future, the hospital will become an even more important centre of pilgrimage than it is at present." More: click here.

10. New 'martyrology' of Salvadoran Church. The Salvadoran Church published a new softcover volume (in Spanish) entitled "Testigos de la Fe en El Salvador" ("Witnesses of the Faith in El Salvador"), featuring the stories of ten priests killed in El Salvador and Archbishop Romero. The book, published extra-officially by a group of priests and distributed through all the parishes, is in part a response to John Paul II's Jubilee call to memorialize local martyrs, whether or not they have been recognized by officialdom. John Paul himself led a ceremony in the Colosseum in Rome (site of ancient persecutions) in the year 2000 in which Archbishop Romero was memorialized, together with all the "witnesses of the faith" of the 20th century. More: click here.

HAY QUE HABLAR DE JUSTICIA ANTES DE SANTIDAD

Desde su establecimiento en mayo del 2006, este blog ha estado textualmente dedicado a promover y dar seguimiento a la causa de canonización de Monseñor Romero. Este ha sido un emprendimiento exclusivo a favor de la causa establecida en los procedimientos internos de la Iglesia Católica Romana para declarar oficialmente a Mons. Romero como un santo. Pero, trás una profundización muy fundamental sobre el caso y los hechos, estamos cambiando un poco el enfoque para dar énfasis a los procesos legales del mundo seglar, las investigaciones a fondo del crímen político, del asesinato desde una perspectiva humana y terrenal que de frutos en la buzqueda de verdad, justicia, paz y reconciliación, especialmente en la esfera del pueblo de El Salvador. Ese proceso ha entrado a una etapa mucho más aguda, especialmente a raíz de los hechos tocantes al caso Romero ante la Corte Internacional de Derechos Humanos de la Organización de Estados Americanos. Este ente ha estado investigando el caso Romero desde 1993 y finalmente se ha llegado el momento en que el gobierno salvadoreño por primera vez digne oportuno responder a las aseveraciones de las partes actoras en el caso. Existe mucha controversia en la etapa actual sobre varios temas pertinentes, pero lo importante es que estos procesos se desarrollen de manera conveniente para hacer justicia y buzcar la verdad.

Desde un sentido más profundo, es importante asegurar que los procesos de canonización no se usen de manera pretextual, para postergar la justicia en el mundo actual. Es muy importante que Mons. Romero sea reconocido santo, más que todo para hacer realidad la oración que Cristo nos mandó a rezar: "hágase tu voluntad así en la tierra como en los cielos." No cabe duda que Mons. Romero es santo en el reino celestial, y por eso es muy conveniente reflejar esa realidad en la iglesia terrenal. Sin embargo, Mons. Romero sería el primero en llamarnos a no mistificar los procesos sagrados de la iglesia, tergiversandolos para hacer ocultar las responsabilidades éticas y morales que se deben cumplier acá en la tierra antes de llegar al altar, a menos que el Padre Celestial nos obligue, como a Moisés, a quitarnos las sandalias antes de plantar nuestros pies en el suelo de la santidad. Es un hecho de que nunca se ha cumplido el deber de hacer justicia en el caso Mons. Romero, y es igüalmente un hecho de que la apertura actual en el caso CIDH nos presenta una oportunidad. Cabe mentar que esclarecer los hechos jurídicamente en los casos legales sería un gran aporte a los elementos más agudos en el proceso eclesial, para establecer los elementos necesarios para el decreto de martirio que se buzca obtener.

Por eso, nos resulta conveniente por el momento cambiar un poco el enfoque, de los procesos canónicos a los procesos jurídicos de Monseñor Romero. Hagamos, Señor, tu voluntad de que impere la justicia y la verdad, antes de pretender formalizar la correspondencia entre el cielo y la tierra con un decreto de canonización, cuando estemos en alguna situación de desacato en nuestra responsabilidad.

STATE RESPONSIBILITY AND CANONIZATION

No one accuses Fernando Sáenz of doing things that will benefit Salvadoran society at the expense of ecclesial concerns. In fact, just the opposite is true: the Archbishop of San Salvador is often seen pleading with supporters of his assassinated predecessor Óscar Romero, to give emphasis to ritual and sacramental aspects of the canonization process, at the expense of more urgent worldly calls for continued denunciations and social criticism that may be warranted by the moment. Sáenz is fond of calling for Romero's memory not to be "politicized" by association with current day protests and political issues of the day, and of calling instead for people to pray for miracles in Romero's name and report positive results to the canonization office. Consider then Sáenz' latest endeavor -- a quiet negotiation with the government to have the state admit its role in the Romero assassination.

In typical form, Sáenz bristled at the insinuation of stealth in his conversations with the government. "There are no secrets in the dialogue," Sáenz insisted, seeing no hint of insconsistency as he added, "it is simply a meeting for which, while there are no agreements, it is better to maintain a prudential silence until we have results." He also declined to identify the members of two commissions formed to lead the dialogue, when their sessions are scheduled or held, the topics for discussion, or the number of meetings intended. Sáenz assured reporters that his goals in the "negotiations" are to obtain the concessions demanded by human rights activists and governmnet critics across the board: "we are looking for a way that the state's responsibility is acknowledged." Sáenz recognized that the talks are geared to searching for ways to undergird a "true peace." Tellingly, Sáenz did not explain how obtaining an admission from the government regarding state responsibility for the Romero assassination would aid the canonization cause pending in Rome.

At first glance, it would appear to complicate matters. The key element in the Romero case is the prong of analysis known by its Latin term, ODIUM FIDEI, or "hatred of the faith," which canon law requires must be the motive in fact of a martyr's persecutor. Lacking that motive, there can be no martyrdom. The sticking point in the Romero case has been the fact that anti-religious motives have commingled with purely political or tactical motives, and the censors and relators of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints have had a difficult time finding a purely anti-religious motive when both the actors and the victim were ostensibly Christians, and even Catholics. Saying that the state is the author of the crime muddies the analysis even further because of the conceptual stumbling block that a state possesses no mind, and the practical obstacle of identifying the "motives" behind an institutional decision. Anyone who has ever done legislative intent research will be familiar with the problems involved. However, the law provides ready solutions to these problems in the concepts of agency law and imputed or attributed intent (corporate or institutional mindset, such as "mens rea" and intent, can be inferred from the actions of individuals who posses either knowledge or intent). Therefore, any confusion introduced by state responsibility could be easily overcome. However, state responsibility adds very little to the "odium fidei" analysis (possibly, it allows some flexibility since you can attribute intent based on actions and beliefs done or held by different people). One can conclude that Sáenz is pursuing an objective which helps Salvadoran society as a whole -- the search for the truth, closure, the fulfillment of the terms of the Peace Accords, etc. -- that does not necessarily further a strict ecclesiastic aim.

MONS. ROMERO Y SAN JUAN CRISÓSTOMO

«Sólo El Salvador será fermentado en la vida divina, en el reino de Dios, si de verdad los cristianos de El Salvador se proponen a no vivir una fe tan lánguida, una fe tan miedosa, una fe tan tímida; sino que de verdad como decía aquel santo -creo que San Juan Crisóstomo-: "Cuando comulgas, recibes fuego; debías de salir respirando la alegría, la fortaleza de transformar el mundo".»

--Mons. Romero, Homilía del 28 de mayo de 1978

En sus reflexiones en su audiencia general del 26 septiembre de 2007, Su Santidad el Papa Benedicto XVI profundizó sobre el legado de san Juan Crisóstomo (347-407 a.D.), proclamado patrón del Concilio Vaticano II por el Beato Juan XXIII, como un padre de la Doctrina Social de la Iglesia. El Papa Benedicto explicó como este santo se encontró en su día involucrado en «intrigas políticas», castigado por las autoridades eclesiales por sus enfrentamientos con la emperatriz y los poderosos de su era. Una parte de la Iglesia acusaba a san Juan Crisóstomo y otra parte, que incluía al papa de su día, lo favorecía, pero no tenía la fuerza para ayudarle. Despues de su muerte, pasaron 31 años antes que la memoria de este obispo de Constantinopla fuera restaurada y su nombre vindicado. Benedicto constató las obras de San Juan por los pobres, en seguida añadiendo que «Crisóstomo comprendió que no es suficiente hacer limosna, ayudar a los pobres de vez en cuando, sino que es necesario crear una nueva estructura, un nuevo modelo de sociedad; un modelo basado en la perspectiva del Nuevo Testamento». Los paralelos con la historia de Mons. Romero, de un obispo comprometido con el Evangelio hasta sus últimas consequencias, que queda mal con los poderosos y aboga por los pobres, son tantos que vale la pena comentar algunos detalles.

En la teología de Crisóstomo, explica el Santo Padre, «la vieja idea de la "polis" griega es sustituida por una nueva idea de ciudad inspirada en la fe cristiana». Esto nos hace recordar que en su discurso en Universidad de Lovaina, tanto como en su homilía del 17 de febrero de 1980, Mons. Romero profundiza que, «En su origen política es de "polis", que quiere decir: Ciudad. Los pobres nos dicen qué es la "polis", qué es la ciudad, y qué significa para la Iglesia vivir realmente en el mundo, en la "polis", en la ciudad.» Según lo expone el papa, San Juan Crisóstomo tambien definió la "polis" desde la perspectiva de los pobres, ya que insistió en que ellos fuesen incluidos en su alcanze, mientras que las definiciones griegas de la misma palabra excluían a los pobres y a los esclavos. Así mismo, en la teología de San Juan Crisóstomo, «la vieja idea de la "polis" griega es sustituida por una nueva idea de ciudad inspirada en la fe cristiana».

Crisóstomo defendió, nos dice el gran maestro vaticano, «el primado de cada ... persona en cuanto tal, incluso del esclavo y del pobre». Este «primado de la persona» de San Juan Crisóstomo es lo mismo de lo que nos hablaba Mons. Romero cuando predicaba en su homilía del 2 de marzo de 1980 que:

A la Iglesia no le importa más que el hombre. El hombre, el hijo de Dios; y por eso le duele encontrar cadáveres de hombres, torturas a hombres, sufrimiento de hombres. Para la Iglesia, la meta de todos los proyectos tiene que ser éste de Dios: el hijo, el hombre. Todo hombre es hijo de Dios y en cada hombre matado es un cristo sacrificado que la Iglesia también venera.

El «primado de la persona» o «primado del hombre», continua Benedicto, «nos dice que nuestra "polis" es otra, "nuestra patria está en los cielos" y esta patria nuestra, incluso en esta tierra, nos hace a todos iguales, hermanos y hermanas, y nos obliga a la solidaridad». Y en la prédica de Mons. Romero encontramos la misma idea:

El cristiano es habitante de la eternidad, que va peregrinando en esta tierra, trabajándola, porque le tiene que dar cuenta a Dios, pero que su patria definitiva es allá dónde Cristo vive para siempre, y donde seremos felices con él, con el gran liberado, los pueblos liberados; los hombres liberados serán aquellos que han hecho suya ésta que San Pablo llama "la energía que posee todo para someterlo todo a Cristo". (Ibidem.)

San Juan Crisóstomo y Mons. Romero, ¡rogad por nosotros! +

ROMERO FOR YOM KIPPUR

Perhaps there is no more fitting way for us to pay our respects to the Jewish Day of Atonement, than to reflect on the Hebrew prophets' influence on Oscar Romero's theology and preaching. Yom Kippur is celebrated this year on Saturday September 22. The feast commemorates the episode related in the Book of Exodus wherein the Isrealites built a shrine to a golden calf in honor of the Apis bull, thereby engaging in idolatry. After the crisis was mediated by Moses, it was engrained in the annals of Jewish history as the "Chet ha'Egel" or "The Sin of the Calf."

In his sermon of February 24, 1980 -- given exactly one month before his martyrdom -- Archbishop Romero states that, "one of the services that the Church is providing today is to unmask idolatries: the idolatry of money, the idolatry of power, the pretense to keep men on their knees before those false gods." In this perspective, Archbishop Romero was powerfully driven by the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. The previous Sunday, March 17, Romero had preached: "How awesome are the prophets when they denounce those who annex house to house and conjoin property with property and become the owners of the entire country!" The clear reference to Isaiah 5:8 reveals the Scriptural underpinnings of a man who has been himself called a "modern prophet," who heard in the voice of Christ preaching the Beatitudes, "the accent of the prophets of the Old Testament." (March 17 Sermon.)

Romero explained the pertinancy of the Old Hebrew texts to 20th Century El Salvador:

The impovireshed majorities of our country find the voice of the prophets of Israel in our Church. There are those among us who sell the just for money and the poor for a pair of sandals, as stated by the prophets (Amos 2:6-7,8). Those who stack violence and deprivation in their palaces, those who squash the poor, those who make a reign of violence approach while they lie in marble beds, those who join house to house and annex field to field in order to occupy the entire place and have the country all to themselves. These texts of the prophets are not distant voices that we read reverently in our liturgy, they are the daily realities whose cruelty and intensity we live day to day.

In fashioning his responses to these "daily realities," Archbishop Romero drew on Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos and Micah as much as he drew on the Second Vatican Council and the social teaching of the Popes. The legacy of the Hebrew prophets over Archbishop Romero is made manifest today in the instinctive attraction that Romero's ministry has for the delegations of American Jewish World Service students who have made Ciudad Romero a mecca for exploring their relationship between Judaism and the developing world.

An expert in the Old Testament said a few days after Archbishop Romero's assassination that Biblical Israel had eight great prophets and that, in our days, Archbishop Romero would be one of them. On this Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement, we meditate upon Archbishop Romero's fidelity to the Hebrew prophets:

It is wise to read the Old Testament, to read, above all, the prophets and to hear in the tenor of the prophets the severe reprimands, the calls to order that the prophets made, even to the kings, to the rulers, to the wealthy, to those who abused and who trampled their people. 'You are the cause of God's breaking His alliance with this nation,' the prophets said to them, and they called to repentance. 'Convert, renew yourselves." (Jan. 1, 1978 Sermon.)

Romero believed that Christ's mission resumed that call to repentance and reconciliation, and that his ministry was the echo of that call to repentance: "Convert yourselves, be faithful to the alliance of your Baptism, be faithful to your Lord!" (Id.).

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

In a brazen move that illustrates the danger of political manipulation of the Romero image, the Hugo Chavez regime in Venezuela announced a new website about Archbishop Romero and sponsored a Liberation Theology seminar in Caracas on the occasion of Romero's 90th birthday in which participants triumphantly declared that Romero was a "liberation theologian" and that socialism and liberation theology, alone, were the viable alternatives to gain social justice in Latin America. These developments followed the announcement last month that El Salvador's ARENA government, whose ruling party was established by the man signaled as the intellectual author of the Romero assassination, would officially back the Romero canonization drive. Both gambits demonstrate how political actors have exploited a perceived void in ownership of the Romero brand for self-serving purposes, given the lack of action on the ecclesiastic front along those lines.

A much-circulated AP story by Nicole Winfield, timed to coincide with the 90th anniversary of Romero's birth this past week alleges that, "The campaign to make him a Roman Catholic saint appears to be languishing." Winfield does not point to any specific setbacks or identifiable obstacles that were not already known, and would justify such analysis. In fact, Winfield acknowledges various incremental gains, such as the record-correcting Morozzo della Rocca biography, and Pope Benedict's astonishing remark that "Romero as a person merits beatification." Winfield's depiction of church paralysis before the controversy surrounding Romero and, more specifically, the complexities of the analyses of the political as opposed to purely theological ramifications of his martyrdom, however, does describe the reality perceived by political actors who appear to conclude that the Church has foresaken Romero, and that he is up for grabs (in very simplified terms).

On the one hand, of course the Church is right to stay out of partisan rows over the purely political implications of Romero's ministry, and there is even perhaps some benefit in having the extremists on both ends of the political spectrum fight over the scraps of Romero's legacy that they like, so that they will benefit from the edification of being exposed to Romero's message and perhaps find in it enough traces of the Gospel and the Magisterium as to be made better for it. On the other hand, the danger that they will corrupt and defile the figure and message of Romero seems all too great to leave it to chance. When Bishop Vincenzo Paglia first received the appointment of postulator of Romero's cause, he immediately reported to John Paul II, after having reviewed Romero's orthodoxy, "Romero is ours!" However, ownership is extrinsically linked to possession, and where an owner relinquishes possession, he eventually relinquishes right if another interposes a claim and too much times passes in between.

EL SALV. SUMA SU APOYO A LA BEATIFICACIÓN

El estado salvadoreño se ha comprometido a prestar una intervención ante la Santa Sede para pedir la beatificación de su más destacado hijo, Mons. Oscar A. Romero. Desde varias perspectivas, el anuncio constituye algo excepcional. Es la primera vez que el gobierno de El Salvador se pronuncia oficialmente sobre la causa de canonización de Mons. Romero. Es raro el caso en que un gobierno intervenga de manera oficial en una causa de canonización.

Desgraciadamente, el anuncio por parte del gobierno, hecho despues de un encuentro con Tutela Legal del Arzobispado de San Salvador y el Centro de Justicia y el Derecho Internacional, ha sido percibido como una maniobra cínica por el estado, ya que ofreció su anuncio sobre la beatificación en lugar de lo que estos organismos le pedían: la derroga de la amnistía que prohibe enjuiciar a los sospechados del magnicidio de Romero, y la aceptación por el estado de su parte en el asesinato. Ciertamente la propuesta del gobierno es especiosa y vacía por tres razones. En primer lugar, el gobierno pretende dar, en substitución de algo justificado y necesario en si mismo, otra cosa que tambien lo es. No se puede substituir la justicia para Mons. Romero con la santidad para Mons. Romero porque las dos causas son obligadas, y no es ninguna "concesión" ceder a una de las dos cosas. En segundo lugar, la intervención que el gobierno ofrece viene sumamente tardía, hasta el punto de ser inútil y de nada necesaria. Ya Mons. Romero está en una etapa avanzada de su proceso, y no por la ayuda del estado salvadoreño ha llegado a tener la estatura de heroe espiritual a nivel internacional que lo impulsa hacia la beatificación. Finalmente, el anuncio del gobierno salvadoreño incluye varias contradiciones en su argumento, inclusive que no se puede investigar porque existe una amnistía, que no se puede aceptar responsabilidad porque ya se investigó (aunque la amnistía no permite investigar), y que no se puede quitar la amnistía porque hay que ser responsable (aunque se rechaza la responsabilidad de la actuación del estado).

Es evidente que el gobierno no se adhiere a la ley de no usar para fines políticos la figura de Romero con que constantemente acusa a la oposición, porque cuando le conviene usar la figura de Romero para salir de un aprieto, lo hace con abandono singular. Pero lo que nos interesa analizar en esta conexión es si esta intervención podría hasta dañar la causa de beatificación. El peligro viene desde el hecho de que una causa de martirio se basa en la teoría de que el mártir fue asesinado por un victimario que actua en odio a la fe cristiana de la víctima (el famoso ODIUM FIDEI). Sin embargo, si el victimario se está sumando a los promotores de la causa, ¿no puede esto interferir con la teoría del ODIUM? Aunque es interesante la noción, la respuesta está bien clara: no hace estorbo. Al mismo Jesús despues de haber sido crucificado le reconocieron sus asesinos, "Este verdaderamente era el Hijo de Dios," y no deja de ser su sacrificio un acto divino con un significado teológico monumental. De hecho, el único daño que se percibe en esta conexión es la posible contaminación que semejante maniobra política de un gobierno tenga sobre el resultado de una causa de canonización: que digan que fue beatificado como resultado de las políticas sucias de un gobierno sin sentido de la santidad.

El análisis final puede ser este. Aunque hay riesgo de manchar la pureza del proceso, la promesa del gobierno puede hacer un bien. Hay que ser optimista y tener fe, y es posible que gente decente en el gobierno y entre los salvadoreños tomen el respaldo del gobierno con un sentido de autenticidad, y que esto ayude a la reconciliación (usando la palabra en el sentido espiritual, que conlleva el sentido de arrepentimiento y de perdón). Principalmente, el aporte que esta decisión daría al proceso es quitar el pretexto de que la beatificación sería polémica, o rechazada por el sector conservador, ya que ellos son los que están en el gobierno. Tambien hay que aceptar el progreso aún cuando sea lento y reconocer que por lo menos ya no se está calumniando a Mons. Romero como un agitador a la violencia, ni a sus seguidores como devotos de una causa ilegítima como se hacía hasta hace poco. Hay que reconocer este progreso, y no dejar de pedir más.

RATZINGER & ROMERO

Marveling on the theological insight of Pope Benedict's new book, "Jesus of Nazareth," the leading papal biographer George Weigel asks, «When was the last time you heard a sermon in which [the Beatitudes] were described as 'a sort of veiled interior biography of Jesus, a kind of portrait of his figure'-- and thus 'a roadmap for the Church, a model of what she herself should be'?» Mystified by the unusual slant given to familiar Biblical stories by the stellar theologian-pope, the author goes on to query, «How many preachers explain [the stories of Jesus’s temptations in the desert] as dramatic variations on the perennial human temptation to utopianism, to a self-sufficiency that 'pushes God off the stage'?» (George Weigel, NEWSWEEK, May 21, 2007 issue, "A Jesus Beyond Politics, Pope Benedict becomes the teacher he always wanted to be.")

Archbishop Oscar Romero made exactly those observations in two consecutive sermons in February 1980, in the final run-up of homilies that would lead to his March 24, 1980 assassination. It is perhaps no wonder then that, an audit of Archbishop Romero's preaching conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger found no fault in Romero's theology and concluded that, «Romero was not a revolutionary bishop, but a man of the Church, of the Gospel, and of the Poor.» (ANSA News Service, March 15, 2005.) Speaking over the Sahara desert during the flight to Brazil to open the V General Synod of the Latin American Bishops' Conference, Pope Benedict remarked that Romero «was certainly a great witness to the faith. He was a man of great Christian virtue, who was committed to peace and against the dictatorship.» The Pope noted that, «He was killed during the moment of consecration,» and that his death was therefore, «a testimony to the faith.» The Pope concluded, «That Romero as a person merits beatification, I have no doubt,» and that he was awaiting the final report from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. (See Transcript, http://ncrcafe.org/node/1081 )

Weigel notes that in analyzing the Sermon on the Mount, «Benedict XVI unpacks the New Testament with the help of his profound knowledge of the Hebrew Bible.» In his February 17, 1980 Sermon, Romero took his listeners through each of the Beatitudes, leading into one by saying, «Take note of the moment in which Christ teaches this Beatitude so that we can see its reach. Let us not tear it out of the context of the history of Israel.» Romero then goes on to encapsulate the entire history of Israel from Abraham to Moses to the Roman occupation in a whirlwind two-minute capsule summary to hightlight the "context." Weigel continues to explicate the Pope's analysis: «Why is it the meek to whom the Beatitudes promise the inheritance of 'the land'? Because, explains Ratzinger, drawing on the imagery of the Exodus, 'the land was given [to the people of Israel] as a space for obedience, a realm of openness to God that was to be freed from the abomination of idolatry'.» In Feb. 1980, Romero talked about the relationship of the land to God's promises to Israel, and like Joseph Ratzinger, he also spoke in terms of 'idolatry:' «That is why Jesus preached with such enthusiasm, 'Happy are you the poor, because yours is the Kingdom of God! You are the best prepared to understand what is not understood by those who kneel before the false idols and trust in them. You who do not have those idols, you who do not trust because you do not have money or power, you who are disenfranchised of everything, the poorer you are, the more you are the owners of the Kingdom of God!»

Weigel writes that, «amidst some familiar Ratzingerian themes, there is a new chord struck with particular force, it is Benedict XVI’s insistence, repeated several times, that a Christian Church faithful to its Lord cannot be a Church of power ... For the fusion of faith and political power always comes at a price: faith becomes the servant of power and must bend to its criteria.» Similarly, Romero concluded in his February 17, 1980 sermon: «That is why, brothers and sisters, it is no prestige for the Church to be in good stead with the powerful. This is the prestige of the Church: to feel that the poor feel it as theirs, knowing that the Church lives a dimension on the earth calling everyone, including the rich, to convert and be saved, from the world of the poor, because they are the only ones who are Blessed.»

That point is further emphasized in an analysis of Jesus' temptations in the desert. In his book, Pope Benedict likens Satans' temptations of Jesus to the «perennial human temptation to utopianism.» In his next Sunday sermon, given on February 24, 1980 -- exactly one month before his martyrdom -- Archbishop Romero compared the temptation to turn bread to stones to political solutions that seek facile or immediate solutions of complex problems, «like so many politicians who only wish to have everything taken care of and who demand even what is impossible. These infantile demands are very much like the temptation of the Devil: to want to turn stones to bread and thus get out of hunger.» In a stinging after-touch, Romero tacks on the temptation to resort to artificial contraception as a way to combat world hunger: «to deprive men from coming into being alive» instead of preparing the banquet of life «so that there is enough bread for everyone.» Weigel concludes that Pope Benedict sees in the temptations an invitation to accept «the murderous depredations of those twentieth-century totalitarians who made ultramundane gods out of themselves,» a danger that Romero obviously recognized also.

A STANDARD OF 'ORTHOPRAXY'

The 27th anniversary of Archbishop Romero's martyrdom saw a flurry of public statements regarding the status of the canonization cause made to the Spanish language and Salvadoran press. Among the most interesting revelations are the statements by Msgr. Rafael Urrutia and Archbishop Fernando Saenz in San Salvador. According to their statements, in November 2006, the Vatican informed the San Salvador archdiocese that the after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) reviewed and cleared Romero's orthodoxy ("right thought") in 2001-2004, it would retain Romero's file for an analysis of his orthopraxy ("right action"). Therefore, the canonization process is not moving forward in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, but remains detoured in the CDF. Urrutia revealed that, at that time, the Vatican even proposed that Romero's cause be modified from one premised on martyrdom to a traditional sainthood cause based on spiritual virtues -- hinting at the level of difficulty in proving Romero's status as a martyr.

The unprecedented scrutiny of Romero's orthopraxy, Urrutia revealed, would center on Romero's pastoral actions as archbishop, as these are revealed in his sermons and diaries -- which have already been combed through for doctrinal error and found to be theologically sound. In a December 2006 letter from Fr. Jon Sobrino to Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the Jesuit Superior General, Fr. Sobrino reveals that the inquest that led to a recent CDF notification against two of Sobrino's books also raised suspicion against Romero, and Sobrino indicates that one of the clerics instigating suspicion of Romero is the Colombian cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, the retired prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy who led a campaign against Liberation Theology from the Latin American Bishops' Conference beginning in the 1970s. Previous reports had pointed to "Latin American cardinals" as the source of obstacles against Romero's sainthood. Nevertheless, the sainthood cause caught a break from an unexpected source when Pope Benedict XVI cited Romero in his March 25 Angelus greeting, lauding the "Yes" of Virgin Mary and the martyrs to Christs' call to sacrifice.

If Archbishop Romero, whose writing and preaching has been cleared of doctrinal error, is examined again for error in his pastoral action, one wonders what standard of review is employed by the Vatican commissions studying the matter. A logic of fairness would suggest that, where someone has already been found to be a right-thinker (orthodox), the presumption of right-action (orthopraxy) would automatically attach, unless demonstrated otherwise. In other words, the theological censors ought not go in with a fine tooth comb looking for the slightest hint of 'not-right' action, but they should presume that someone who is a good Christian and adheres to the tenets of the Faith, will also dutifully carry them out, and not shirk them in the execution. Stated differently, a Servant of God who has passed one study by the CDF should be accorded more deference in subsequent investigations, particularly, where logic would dictate, as here, that the clean bill of health on one theological factor would also result in a positive result in a derivative and related area (as are thought and action).

In other judicial processes (canon law being, after all, a legal process), tribunals adopt "standards of review" appropriate to different types of situations. For example, appellate courts give some deference to trial courts in certain matters, such as a trial court's fact-finding function. The appeals court realizes that it has limited ability to re-conduct a trial and will examine the lower court's decision making and legal analysis, but not its basic factual investigation. That premise has some carry-over value where theological scholars are reviewing a Church pastor's action. It is unfair to conduct a full-hindsight review, for example, that does not give due consideration to the pressures and constraints with which a pastor, in a situation of repression and political instability, would have faced acting in the pressure cooker of real time, and not in the contemplative luxury after the fact. The Church is very sensitive, for example, about criticisms against the actions of Pope Pius XII regarding the Holocaust, for many of the same reasons. Moreover, there is a theological factor to be accounted for, which is that a pastor, especially a bishop, is not just an official to be second-guessed: he was put there by Providence, and by the holy process of Apostolic Succession. An archbishop who is also primate of his countrymen, during a national tribulation, must also be presumed to have been put there by God for a reason, and not forsaken by the Holy Spirit in his decisions.

In sum, the approach should not be tantamount to "de novo" review: "Would we, the theological scholars sitting around in the Vatican archives in 2007, be taking this action?" -- but, instead, "Is Brother Romero, in the crossfires of rightwing assassins, burying hundreds of peasants every week in a cataclysm of social injustice, entitled to deference in his pastoral action unless he strays so decisively from his stated principles that he abuses the discretion that would reasonably be accorded to him under the circumstances?" Let us pray that the guardians of the Faith adhere strictly to this tenet of fairness.

THE SOBRINO FLAP

Last week's landmark "Notification" by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) regarding Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino, a leading proponent of Liberation Theology closely allied with Archbishop Romero, has raised questions of whether the Vatican censure will affect the progress of Romero's beatification. In a December 13, 2006 letter to the Jesuit Superior General, Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, published on the Internet, Sobrino wrote: "I know quite well that my possible influence in his writings and homilies has been a problem for his canonization in the Vatican." Sobrino goes on to detail that he has drafted and signed a 20 page explanation. Sobrino first responded to Vatican objections regarding his theology in March 2005, the same month that Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, the postulator of Archbishop Romero's beatification cause, first announced that beatification was imminent, possibly occurring within six months to a year. By fall 2005, those rosy expectations were quashed, and it seems possible that the Sobrino flap was the cause of the derailment.

If that were true, that result would be most unfortunate. Perhaps a key document to the recovery and clarification of Archbishop Romero's theology as being free from the narrow, methodological errors attributed to Sobrino, is a sermon Romero delivered on August 5, 1976, in which, half a year before being named Archbishop, Romero criticized precisely the types of theological shortcomings in Sobrino's scholarship that are complained of in the Vatican's "Notification." Fr. James Brockman recounts the episode in his Romero biography:

Romero preached the homily at the pontifical mass [for the Feast of the Transfiguration, El Salvador's national patronal feast] ... He spoke of the doctrine of the human and divine natures of Christ, defined by Council of Chalcedon in 451, and proceeded to make a swinging attack on "so-called new Christologies." Jon Sobrino, director of the Center for Theological Reflection at the Central America University had just published a book on Christology and took Romero's words as an attack on his work... Romero spoke of Christ as liberator, but most of his words were a warning about merely temporal liberation ... He attacks the new theology because it seems to him to threaten the church's teaching and belief in the divinity of Christ.

"The Word Remains: A Life of Oscar Romero," Orbis Books, 1982, 1989, 1999.

Father Brockman's description seems astonishing, in light of last week's "Notification" because it goes to the heart of the subject matter of concern to the CDF, including the divinity of Jesus and the correct construction of the early councils (both matters specifically referred to in the "Notification"). Brockman goes on to acknowledge, as Fr. Sobrino does in his Dec. 2006 letter, that Sobrino collaborated with Romero in two of Romero's works: his second pastoral letter, and his speech at Leuven University. Brockman indicates that Romero heavily revised the first, and accepted the latter. If Romero's revisions were made consistent with his 1976 speech, Romero's treatment of Sobrino would be in step with the Church's -- calling attention, but not excluding -- and it would appear that the CDF and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints should be able to come to an expeditious resolution (assuming they have identified the right pieces of the puzzle).

DOCE CARDENALES SIMPATIZANTES

Son los príncipes de la Iglesia Romana. Cada uno de ellos puede ser el próximo papa. Todos son hombres sobresalientes en la sociedad, la política y la cultura, y llevan importantes cargos en la organización más grande del mundo. Pero, además de ser miembros del colegio cardenalicio, los siguientes purpurados son simpatizantes abiertos de la causa de canonización de Mons. Romero. Esto es importante, ya que muchas veces se reporta la "oposición jerárquica" a la beatificación de Romero -- frequentemente, sin identificar a los que supuestamente se oponen -- y estos ejemplos sirven para comprobar que la jerarquía está acogiendo el legado de este futuro santo. Y no son personajes obscuros, desconocidos, sino que los jerarcas principales de ciudades principales, como Londres, París, y Los Ángeles.

1. RODRÍGUEZ de Tegucigalpa (Honduras). El Cardenal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga puede ser uno de los más grandes admiradores de Mons. Romero en la Iglesia. En un discurso en la Universidad de Notre Dame lo calificó como el obispo modelo para el nuevo mileneo, y divulgó que había dedicado su cardinalicio a varios pastores que admiraba, incluyendo Romero. Considera a Romero el mártir más querido del siglo XX, y también escribió un discurso para conmemorar el XXV aniversario del asesinato.

2. MARTINI de Milán (Italia). El Cardenal Carlo Maria Martini, igual que el Cardenal Rodríguez, fue considerado posible sucesor al papa Juan Pablo II. Retado a identificar los tres cardenales más influyentes, mencionó a Óscar Romero, porque aunque nunca fué nombrado cardenal formalmente, dijo que lo considera cardenal por la escarlata de su sangre derramada. El sucesor de Pablo VI como arzobispo de Milán tambien tuvo escritos en que habla muy ciertamene sobre el "martirio" de Mons. Romero.

3. MAHONY de Los Ángeles, Calif. (Estados Unidos). El Cardenal Rogelio M. Mahony viajó a El Salvador en marzo del 2000 para celebrar una misa al aire libre en la Plaza de las Américas, en que enfatizó que Mons. Romero fue un auténtico pastor de la Iglesia. Además, Mahony tiene una foto de Mons. Romero en su despacho, y se dice que el purpurado encuentra inspiración en el ejemplo de Romero para tratar temas sociales en su arzobispado, incluso en el ámbito de la política de migración de los Estados Unidos.

4. ETCHEGARAY de París (Francia). El Cardenal Roger Marie Élie Etchegaray escribió el prefacio para la biografia sobre Mons. Romero por Roberto Morozzo della Rocca. Este libro pretendió "rescatar" la figura de Mons. Romero y calificarlo de una vez para todas como un hombre que perteneció y sigue perteneciendo a la Iglesia. En su introducción, el cardenal francés enfatizo que entre más científica y escrupulosa la examinación de la vida de Romero, más grande la estatura que logrará alcanzar en la Iglesia.

5. HUME de Londres (Gran Bretaña). El Cardenal Basil Hume dijo en una misa en la Catedral de Westminster: “Yo creo personalmente que un día Óscar Romero será declarado santo.” Tomamos el nombre del purpurado británico como representante de los demás cardenales ahora difuntos que quisieron a Romero (como el Cardenal Hickey, el Cardenal Corripio Ahumada, etc.).

6. SILVESTRINI de Roma (Prefecto de la Congregación para las Iglesias Orientales). El Cardenal Achille Silvestrini escribió un prefacio para una biografia de Romero llamada Oscar Romero e l’America Centrale del Suo Tempo.

7. QUEZADA de Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala). El Cardenal Rodolfo Quezada Toruño se apuntó para participar en las celebraciones del XXV aniversario del martirio de Mons. Romero en San Salvador y permaneció en la ciudad a pesar del fallecimiento de Su Santidad el Papa Juan Pablo II.

8. CASSIDY de Sydney (Australia). El cardenal Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy ha asistido a congresos sobre la persona de Mons. Romero, y su presencia nos trasmite su acompañamiento de la figura de Mons. Romero en una manera muy abierta y destacada.

9 y 10. MURPHY O'CONNOR de Westminster y O’BRIEN de Edinburgh (Gran Bretaña). El Cardenal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor y el Cardenal Keith Patrick O'Brien son miembros de una fundación dedicada a conservar la memoria de Mons. Romero en Inglaterra.

11. TUCCI de Napolí (Italia). El Cardenal Roberto Tucci, S.J., acompañaba al Papa Juan Pablo II en todos sus viajes afuera de Roma y visitó con él al tumba de Mons. Romero. Se ha refirido a Mons. Romero publicamente como el "obispo que fue martirizado mientras celebraba la misa".

12. RATZINGER de Bavaria y Roma (Prefecto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe). No se nos olvida que antes de su elección como Romano Pontífice, el Cardenal Joseph Alois Ratzinger calificó a Mons. Romero como "un hombre de la Iglesia, del Evangelio, y de los pobres". Como papa, Benedicto XVI caracterizó a Mons. Romero como "un hombre de la paz y del diálogo" cuya beatificación debe seguir su debido camino.

No pretendemos que esta lista sea exclusiva y comprensiva, porque bien sabemos que seguramente hay otros cardenales de la estatura de estos nombrados que han reconocido en el sacrificio de Mons. Romero un eco pequeño pero certero del martirio salvífico de Jesucristo.

2007 BEATIFICATION OUTLOOK

The first few months of 2005 saw a heady rush in the Romero beatification cause, following years of stagnation. The vice postulator, Msgr. Rafael Urrutia, told the Salvadoran press, “we have advanced 95 percent” of the way, and the postulator, Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, predicted beatification in as little as six months’ time. In September ‘05, Paglia told the National Catholic Reporter to expect “good news” within a month. Then, at a meeting of Cardinals of the Congregation for the Causes of Saint in October, something happened. That month, the Prefect of that saint-making body told the press that Paglia’s calculations did not add up, and the following month, a Vatican publication predicted that beatification was still “years away.”

In March 2006, San Salvador Archbishop Fernando Sáenz confirmed the obvious: the beatification cause was proceeding very slowly now. Romero friend and Opus Dei cleric Jesús Delgado gave the Salvadoran press the intriguing tidbit that “the shadows of the orthopraxis are still conniving over the Romero case and the Church has prudently and wisely has decided to take its time.” That Spring, three synchronized signals regarding the case came from the highest levels of the Church hierarchy. In May 2006, Pope Benedict himself declared that, in order to establish martyrdom, there must be, “moral certainty” that the persecutor's action stemmed “directly or indirectly” from a hatred of the faith, as opposed to political motivations. At about the same time, the head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and Msgr. Paglia both signaled that this was the sticking point in Romero’s case. At about that time, the trail goes cold on clues regarding the Romero beatification.

2007 would therefore seem to be a no-action year -- were it not for the fact that three major dates on the Catholic agenda this year all augur in favor of progress in the Romero beatification cause. The first is the fact that this year will mark the 30th anniversary of Romero’s ascension to the San Salvador archbishopric. Romero was selected on February 9, and invested on February 22, 1977. This year also marks several associated milestones, including the 30th anniversary of Romero’s priests, Rutilio Grande (March 12) and Alfonso Navarro. To provide a bookend to the reflection, 2007 also marks the 15th anniversary of the Salvadoran Peace Accords. The time, would therefore, seem ripe to tie it altogether and attempt to resolve the political implications for the beatification in a manner that helped the society most affected by the question -- Salvadoran society -- to have closure and reconciliation.

The other significant anniversary this year is that March 26, 2007 -- two days after the 27th anniversary of the Romero assassination -- marks the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Populorum Progressio. This is the one where the Pope declares that, “The world is sick. The poor nations remain poor while the rich ones become still richer. The very life of poor nations, civil peace in developing countries, and world peace itself are at stake.” Pope Paul, whom Romero believed to be supportive of his pastoral work, concludes “We want to be clearly understood on this point: The state of affairs must be confronted boldly, and its concomitant injustices must be challenged and overcome. Everyone must lend a ready hand to this task, particularly those who can do most by reason of their education, their office, or their authority.” In his three years as archbishop, Romero cited Populorum Progressio in 16 different sermons.

Finally, in May 2007, the Latin American Bishops are having the fifth general assembly in Aparecida, Brazil, in a gathering that will be attended by Pope Benedict. This is the successor conference to the 1968 conference, held in Medellin, Colombia, which gave us the phrase “preferential option for the poor,” and the Puebla conference, held in 1979, which Romero himself attended. Arguably, there is no more prominent apostle of the teachings of the CELAM fathers than Archbishop Oscar Romero, who embraced the teachings of the conferences and followed the teachings to the bitter end, even if it meant death and martyrdom. Previous conferences have recognized the heroic deeds of men like Bartolome de las Casas who bravely have confronted what the bishops themselves defined as the continent’s most urgent problem -- economic and social injustice. This year’s gathering would be a fitting forum for recognition of Romero.

EL PRÓXIMO ARZOBISPO DE SAN SALVADOR

Este pensamiento es en gran medida un reconocimiento de que un proceso de canonización es en parte un proceso humano -- es a fondo un proceso divino, pero tiene necesariamente su aspecto humano ya que son seres humanos los que lo deben llevar adelante. En estos días, acaba de marcarse el 17º aniversario de la Masacre de la UCA, un acontecimiento que nos apunta a la realidad humana de la Iglesia, y de la dimensión personal del martirio. Es una fecha significativa para la Iglesia Salvadoreña, ya que fué en esa misma fecha, un 16 de noviembre, que en 1924 Mons. Luis Chávez y González fue ordenado sacerdote, y fué un 16 de noviembre, que en 1932, Mons. Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, nació en Cintruénigo, España. Hace 74 años. Llegamos al punto esencial, que ahora queda menos que un año para que el arzobispo actual de San Salvador cumpla 75 años, la edad cuando se hace obligatorio que un obispo católico se retire.

Esta fué la circumstancia en que, en un febrero de 1977 se anunció que Mons. Óscar A. Romero, llegaría a ser el arzobispo metropolitano de San Salvador, llegado el momento en que el arzobispo por 38 años se tenía que jubilar. Tres décadas después, otro cambio arzobispal en esa sede dislumbra no solamente la pastoral de esa arquidiócesis, sino también el camino que el arzobispo que se inauguró hace treinta años llevará hacia los altares. Resulta que las grandes preguntas restantes en el proceso de canonización se Mons. Romero se le ceden a la sabiduría y discreción del obispo local, que en este caso sería el Arzobispo de San Salvador. Durante su gestión que surge desde 1995, Mons. Sáenz ha respaldado firmemente el proceso de canonización de su predecesor, pero ha marcado los límites de su apoyo, observando que no se debe adelantar la canonización de Mons. Romero con un proceso "popular" que lo declare santo antes de que se cumplan los procedimientos de Roma, y pautando que no puede haber canonización mientras se use la figura del presunto santo para hacer campañas políticas.

Muchos consideran que si el obispo auxiliar, Mons. Gregorio Rosa Chávez es nombrado sucesor de "Don Fernando", el Arzobispo Rosa no tuviera ninguna inquietud por recomendar que "San Romero" se beatificara cuanto antes, y es posible que su accesión a proceder de manera expedita sería suficiente para acelerar el proceso de beatificación. Sin embargo, el caso de 1977 es uno que nos recuerda que no es automático que el obispo auxiliar sea nombrado el sucesor. En esa circumstancia, el obispo auxiliar de aquel entonces, Mons. Arturo Rivera y Damas, fue sobresaltado por el Vaticano y en su lugar fue nombrado el obispo de Santiago de María, Mons. Romero, como el nuevo arzobispo de San Salvador. Es más, el mismo Mons. Rosa ha sido ignorado una vez, ya que cuando murió Mons. Rivera, ya era Mons. Rosa el obispo auxiliar, y el Vaticano prefirió al obispo castrense, Mons. Sáenz, que al jóven obispo auxiliar. Pero esta vez, Mons. Rosa ya no es un niño, y el Vaticano tendría que ignorar fuertes antecedentes para no nombrarlo el próximo obispo. Será este año muy importante para leer las claves secretas de esa sucesión.

ST. RAFAEL GUIZAR, CARD. HUMMES, & MSGR. ROMERO


Two recent developments bode well for the canonization cause of Archbishop Oscar A. Romero: one is the canonization on October 15, 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI of Bishop Rafael Guízar Valencia of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the Holy Father’s appointment this week of Claudio Cardinal Hummes of Sao Paolo, Brazil as the new Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.

Although the two events constitute two very different acts -- one is an honor bestowed upon a dead prelate in order to present him as a model of Catholic values and virtues, and the other is a working appointment of a living cleric to fulfill ministerial duties -- we must start by fusing them and seeing what they tell us that is the same. First of all, they are both the actions of the same man, the Roman Pontiff who is pastor to the worldwide Church. In this respect, the appointment of Cardinal Hummes has been interpreted in some quarters as indicative of a magnanimous spirit at the Holy See. As the conservative Catholic news agency Catholic World News commented before the story was confirmed: “If the report is accurate, the selection of Cardinal Hummes, a Franciscan who was friendly to exponents of liberation theology in Latin America, would suggest that Pope Benedict is determined to fill the Roman Curia with prelates who will represent a wide variety of views.” Or to put it differently, being associated with Liberation Theology is not the kiss of death. (In a similar vein, arlier this year, we noted that one candidate whose sainthood cause had advanced, Fr. Antonio Rosmini, once had been the subject of a censorship by the Holy Office because his writings had been considered unorthodox.)

The second prism which helps us see two acts as one is the caritas (to use Pope Benedict’s language) that motivated both men. On his first day as Archbishop of Sao Paolo, Card. Hummes attacked the spread of global capitalism, saying the privatization of state companies and the lowering of tariffs had contributed to the "misery and poverty affecting millions around the world." And, on the eve of the papal election of 2005, he told the press that the next pope needs to be "especially at the service of the poor and most excluded." Bishop Guízar, who was canonized on Oct. 15, was known as the “Bishop of the Poor.” During the canonization Mass, Benedict praised the new saint because he rejected the allure of power and privilege and identified himself with the poor: “Imitating the poor Christ, he renounced his goods and never accepted the gifts of the powerful, or rather, he gave them back immediately.” During the military dictatorship of the 1970s, Hummes also identified with the poor in Sao Paolo, speaking out and letting anti-military activists use church facilities. In 1978, army helicopters buzzed a Sao Paulo stadium where Hummes was celebrating Mass, in an effort by the military to intimidate Hummes. Bishop Guizar, Benedict noted, also faced persecution and exile, but he was committed to “help the poor, even amid endless persecutions.”

Finally, the presence of Card. Hummes in Rome may be an eloquent reminder to the entire hierarchy of how Romero’s critics have misrepresented and mischaracterized profound commitment to the social doctrine of the Church as mere politics. Harsh critics have already began to rail against Card. Hummes, even before his taking office. Commentators on the conservative CWN news board have lamented that it is a “Very sad day” because of his appointment. Another poster decried that, “I couldn't think of anyone worse for the job.” Another: “akin to hiring the fox to guard the chicken coop.” By becoming a lightning rod for mean spirited accusations, Card. Hummes may prove to Rome that a man’s harshest critics are not the best source to define the man.