Judges at Spain's highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, on Friday convicted Inocente Orlando Montano, 77, of the "terrorist murders" of the five Spaniards, who were killed along with a Salvadoran Jesuit and two Salvadoran women 31 years ago. Read more

Saint Oscar Romero, who was canonised earlier this month, is thought to have been killed by a former soldier believed to be in hiding.

The new saint was internationally known as an outspoken opponent of the El Salvador government's oppression and violence against its own people.

He is thought to have been killed by a right-wing death squad during the civil war that tore the small Latin American country apart between 1980 and 1992.

The suspect of his murder is Álvaro Rafael Saravia, a 78 year old former army officer.

Charges against Saravia were dismissed in 1993 after an amnesty law prohibited criminal trials related to the country's civil war.

In 2017 the case was reopened after the amnesty law was rescinded.

The National Police and Interpol are currently charged with finding the former soldier so he can be tried for aggravated homicide.

No one else has been charged in connection with Romero's death.

Soon after Romero's assassination, many recognised him as a martyr. His sainthood cause was stalled for years over whether he was killed for his faith or for his politics.

In 2010 Salvadoran parliamentarians passed a law decreeing that March 24 would henceforth be commemorated as "Archbishop Oscar Romero Day."

Source

• La Croix
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Independent

The Pope made these remarks "off-the-cuff" while speaking on Friday to a group of Salvadoran pilgrims.

Pope Francis said that Romero suffered martyrdom not just by his murder on March 24, 1980, but afterwards.

The Pope said: "I was a young priest then and I was a witness to this: he was defamed, calumnied and had dirt thrown on his name — his martyrdom continued even by his brothers in the priesthood and episcopate."

He said Blessed Romero was "stoned with the hardest stone that exists in the world: the tongue".

"After having given his life, he continues to give it by allowing himself to be assailed by all this misunderstanding and slander," the Pope said, adding that "this gives me strength".

Blessed Romero had spoken out against repression by the army at the beginning of El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war.

He was murdered by right-wing death squads as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel in San Salvador.

Romero's sainthood case was held up by the Vatican, apparently due to opposition from some Latin American churchmen who feared his association with liberation theology would embolden the movement.

After a 35-year delay, Blessed Romero was beatified in May this year.

Pope Francis, speaking to the pilgrims, said he hoped God would continue what Blessed Romero had hoped would come to El Salvador: "the happy moment when El Salvador's terrible tragedy of suffering of so many of our brothers thanks to hatred, violence and injustice, disappears".

In a message sent for the beatification, Pope Francis said Archbishop Romero "built the peace with the power of love, [and] gave testimony of the faith with his life".

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: OP.org

Who would have imagined on Feb. 23, 1977, the day of his appointment as Archbishop of San Salvador, that the highly conservative Oscar Romero - who was suspicious of the Catholic Church's involvement in political activism - would die a martyr's death for courageously defending his people against the murderous assaults of the Salvadoran government, military and right-wing death squads?

Romero's appointment was welcomed by the government, but many priests were not happy. They suspected their new archbishop would insist they cut all ties to liberation theology's defence of the poor.

One of the priests who worked with Romero, Father Inocencio Alas, recalled key moments leading to the archbishop's dramatic conversion.

According to Alas, the archbishop began realizing that the poor laborers waiting for work at the coffee plantations were sleeping on the sidewalks.

"What can be done"? Romero asked. Alas replied, "Look at that big house where the school used to be. Open it up!" And Romero did.

Next, he started talking with those poor workers, and began to understand their problems.

But Romero had difficulty believing Alas' claim that plantation owners treated workers unjustly. Alas said, "Why don't you go to the plantation of this friend of yours … Go find out for yourself."

After visiting the plantation, Romero said to Alas, "You were right Father, but how is so much injustice possible"? Alas replied, "This world so full of injustices is exactly what they [the Latin American bishops at their famous meeting in Medellin Columbia] were talking about in Medellin."

But the most important event affecting Romero's decision to wholeheartedly stand with the poor and oppressed was the assassination of his close friend Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande; who was promoting land reform, worker unions, and organising communities to have a greater voice regarding their own lives.

Romero, who was deeply inspired by Grande said, "When I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, ‘if they have killed him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.' "

A shameful chapter in American history reveals the U.S. government supplied the brutal Salvadoran military with millions, and later, billions of dollars in weapons and training.

In a letter to U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Romero warned continued U.S. aid to the government of El Salvador "will surely increase injustices here and sharpen the repression." Romero asked Carter to stop all military assistance to the Salvadoran government.

Carter ignored Romero. And later, President Ronald Reagan greatly increased military aid.

During his March 23, 1980 Sunday national radio homily, Romero said, "I would like to make an appeal in a special way to the men of the army … You kill your own campesino brothers and sisters … The law of God must prevail that says: Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God … In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people … I beg you … I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression!"

The next day while presiding at Mass in the chapel of the hospital compound where he lived, Romero's loving heart was pierced with an assassin's bullet.

On May 23, the holy archbishop of San Salvador will henceforth be known as Blessed Oscar Romero. But for the people of Central America, especially the poor and oppressed, he is already known as Saint Oscar Romero.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated columnist from the U.S. who covers a wide range of social justice and peace issues. This article is his first contribution to CathNews NZ Pacific.

"Romero, friend, the people are with you," the congregation chanted at a square in San Salvador.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over the beatification Mass.

In his homily the cardinal said that "the figure of Romero is still alive and giving comfort to the marginalised of the earth."

"His option for the poor was not ideological, but evangelical. His charity extended to the persecutors."

Blessed Romero was assassinated in 1980 while celebrating Mass a day after ordering soldiers and police to stop killing innocent civilians.

While his killers were never found, many blame the assassination on right-wing death squads.

The archbishop had been a fierce critic of the US-backed military regime that seized power in 1979.

The blood-stained short he wore when he was killed is now a relic and it was given some prominence at the beatification Mass.

Eight deacons carried the shirt, displayed in a glass case, to the altar.

One of the offertory gifts at the beatification Mass was a book "From Madness to Hope" that detailed some of the human rights atrocities committed in El Salvador during the conflict from 1979 to 1992 between leftist guerrillas and a right-wing dictatorship.

In a message, Pope Francis stated that, in a time of difficulty in El Salvador, Archbishop Romero knew "how to guide, defend and protect his flock, remaining faithful to the Gospel and in communion with the whole Church".

"His ministry was distinguished by a particular attention to the poor and marginalised," the Pope noted.

Archbishop Romero's feast day will be March 24, the "day he was born into heaven", the Pontiff wrote.

In February, Francis signed the decree recognising Archbishop Romero as a martyr, a person killed "in hatred of the faith".

A hero to the liberation theology movement, Blessed Romero's beatification was delayed for decades over political concerns.

But the way forward for his cause was unblocked by Pope Benedict XVI.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Catholic News Agency
• CNN
• Image: Business Insider

In a country where the major media refused to report on the unbridled military violence, Romero refused to be censored.

He refused to be silent — despite getting daily death threats and having his archdiocesan radio station bombed.

Through his homilies, radio broadcasts and reports in the archdiocesan newspaper, every week Romero detailed the tortures, murders and disappearances, making sure that truth would not be the first casualty of war.

The archbishop was not only the most trusted, but frequently the sole source of news about what was happening in the country.

His often hourslong homilies, broadcast every Sunday by the archdiocesan radio station YSAX, were the most popular program in the country, with nearly 75 percent of the rural population and 50 percent of the urban population listening in — along with the U.S. Embassy.

That made the station, which also broadcast information from the homilies later in the week, a recurring target of the military, which jammed its signal and bombed its offices.

Romero's courage in reporting on the atrocities while living inside the war zone stands in sharp contrast not only to the Salvadoran media of his day, but to the U.S. media today — from the self-aggrandizing falsehoods spouted by NBC anchor Brian Williams and FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly, to the mainstream media's failure to pursue the Bush administration's lies about weapons of mass destruction and their refusal to use the word torture to describe torture. Continue reading

Source & Image

• National Catholic Reporter

The ceremony will be in Plaza Divino Salvador del Mundo, said Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the chief promoter of the archbishop's sainthood cause.

Archbishop Paglia called the beatification a gift for the world, but particularly for the people of El Salvador.​

In February, Pope Francis paved the way for Archbishop Romero's beatification when he formally decreed that the prelate was assassinated as a martyr for the Catholic faith.

Shot dead while celebrating Mass in 1980, the archbishop has long been considered a saint by many in Latin America, but the official Vatican process had lingered for years.

Continue reading

The postulator of the archbishop's cause, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, said that Romero's killers wanted "to strike the Church that flowed from the Second Vatican Council".

On February 3, Pope Francis formally recognised that the slain Salvadoran archbishop was killed "in hatred of the faith" and not for purely political reasons.

A right-wing death squad shot Archbishop Romero dead as he celebrated Mass on March 24, 1980.

This was one day after the archbishop gave a sermon calling on soldiers to stop enforcing the El Salvador government's policies of oppression and violations of human rights.

Sources believe it is likely Archbishop Romero will be beatified within five months in El Salvador and will be canonised by 2017.

Archbishop Paglia said the two decades it took to obtain the decree of martyrdom were the result of "misunderstandings and preconceptions".

During Archbishop Romero's time as archbishop of San Salvador - from 1977 to 1980 - "kilos of letters against him arrived in Rome".

"The accusations were simple: He's political; he's a follower of liberation theology."

To the accusations that he supported liberation theology, Archbishop Paglia said, Archbishop Romero responded, "Yes, certainly".

"But there are two theologies of liberation: one sees liberation only as material liberation; the other is that of Paul VI.

"I'm with Paul VI", Archbishop Paglia indicated how Archbishop Romero would have responded, in seeking the material and spiritual liberation of all people.

All the complaints, Archbishop Paglia said, slowed the sainthood process and "strengthened his enemies".

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith examined all Romero's homilies and writings and cleared them.

But the congregation, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) at the time, told the Congregation for Saints Causes that the process should be put on hold.

There were concerns about the use of Romero's words for political ends and about being seen to endorse political forms of liberation theology.

But Pope Benedict XVI unblocked the process for Archbishop Romero's cause in 2012, having earlier expressed support for his beatification in 2007.

Sources

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Vatican Insider
• Associated Press
• Image: Fox News

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, told the House Judiciary Committee on June 25 that violence in their homelands is the root cause of so many children immigrating illegally.

Bishop Seitz said authorities must let religious groups and individuals minister to these children once they have arrived at the border patrol stations and shelters.

He said various requests to do so have been denied.

The bishop also called for efforts by Congress to address the root causes of such migrations.

He said simply deporting the minors "is akin to sending these children back into a burning building they just fled".

The United States Department of Homeland Security has reported that 52,000 illegal child migrants that have been apprehended at the border this fiscal year, up from 15,700 last year.

Three quarters of them are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Bishop Seitz said gangs in these three countries are increasingly targeting children, attempting to recruit them into their networks and threatening violence against the children and their families if they refuse.

He said migration should be "orderly, safe, controlled and consistent with the common good".

Bishop Seitz lamented the state of overcrowded detention facilities for the children, and emphasised the importance of due process and legal representation for migrant children.

In early June, leaked photos were published showing dozens of children crammed into bare rooms.

President Barack Obama spoke of an "urgent humanitarian situation".

There are around 5000 immigration cases pending for every qualified judge, so dealing with individual children's cases in the judicial system could take years.

Republican lawmakers and others believe the surge in child migration has come about because of the Obama administration's lax enforcement of immigration laws.

But Bishop Seitz said the relatively stagnant numbers of migrants from other Central American countries shows violence, not policy, is the primary factor in the surge.

Rumours have spread like wildfire in some Central American nations that US laws have been relaxed.

The Obama administration blames unscrupulous people-smugglers trying to drum up business for starting the rumours.

The White House has promised more help to Central American countries and to appoint more immigration judges.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• The Economist
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Telegraph

The bishops reportedly asked him to come to El Salvador to preside personally over the archbishop's hoped-for beatification.

Archbishop Jose Escobar Alas said he and three other Salvadoran bishops met the Pope at the Vatican this month to discuss Archbishop Romero's cause.

"We ask the Lord for the speedy beatification of Archbishop Romero and that the Pope come here" to celebrate the ceremony, Archbishop Escobar said.

The Pope told the Salvadoran bishops that he was pleased the process was moving ahead, but he gave no indication of when it would be completed, the archbishop told reporters.

Archbishop Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador, was shot dead on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in a hospital.

This was one day after he delivered a homily calling on Salvadoran soldiers to stop enforcing government repression and human rights violations.

Pope John Paul II gave him the title "servant of God" in 1997, and the cause for his canonisation began.

But it stalled under the papacy of Benedict XVI as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith studied Archbishop Romero's writings.

This was amid wider debate over whether he had been killed for his faith or for political reasons.

Pope Francis revived the cause soon after he was elected last year.

In 2013, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family and official promoter of Archbishop Romero's cause, said the process had been "unblocked", but gave no further details.

Before Archbishop Romero can be beatified, Pope Francis must officially recognise him as a martyr or officially recognise a miracle received through his intercession.

Recent reports in several languages had suggested that an announcement about Archbishop Romero's beatification was near.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Good Shepherd BH

These were the carefully-chosen words of Cardinal Basil Hume in a tribute to Archbishop Romero at a memorial service in Westminster Cathedral the week after his assassination in March 1980. Thirty three years later, after many inexplicable delays, Oscar Romero is undoubtedly moving towards sainthood.

The cause for his canonisation was reportedly ‘unblocked' by Pope Francis in May and is now progressing quickly; and the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has said that there are no doctrinal obstacles to the cause.

A formal certification of Romero's martyrdom and then his beatification seems to be on the cards for 2014 or 2015, well before the centenary of his birth in 2017. Nevertheless we should remember that the Christian communities, the People of God in Latin America, long ago ‘canonised' their beloved pastor in their hearts as Saint Romero of the Americas.

It is the greatest grace and privilege of my life to have known and worked with Archbishop Romero and to have enjoyed his friendship. There are times in life when one catches a fleeting glimpse of God at work in the world and Christ's presence amongst us. The man we all knew as ‘Monseñor' provided such a glimpse for me.

I was awakened at 5am on the morning of Tuesday 25 March 1980 by a telephone call from the Jesuit Provincial's office in San Salvador with the devastating news that Archbishop Romero had been assassinated the previous evening.

He was shot just above the heart with a single exploding bullet fired by a death squad marksman acting, according to El Salvador's current President Funes, ‘with the protection, collaboration or participation of state agents'.

He had just completed his homily and was moving to offer the bread and wine at the Mass he was celebrating in the chapel of the hospital where he lived. He fell at the foot of a huge crucifix with blood streaming from his mouth, nostrils and ears.

A nun on the front bench recorded the Mass and it is a jolting shock now to listen to the sound of that shot, the moment of martyrdom of the Archbishop of San Salvador.

Oscar Romero was an unlikely martyr. Continue reading.

Julian Filochowski is Chair of the Archbishop Romero Trust.

Source: Thinking Faith

Photo: Julian Filochowski sat next to Archbishop Romero in 1978, Archbishop Romero Trust.

They recognize Tutela Legal as a particularly valiant part of their movement that played a crucial role in establishing its legitimacy and in gaining respect for efforts to protect rights even in the midst of a civil war.

As one who has known Tutela Legal from its earliest days more than 30 years ago, collaborated with it closely during the organization's difficult and dangerous formative years, and had a hand in shaping its work, I am especially disturbed by the archbishop's sudden and poorly explained decision to shut it down.

Tutela Legal was established in 1982 by Salvadoran Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas.

His predecessor as archbishop, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, had been murdered by a sniper on March 24, 1980, as he was saying Mass.

The murder of Romero, whose candidacy for sainthood is being promoted by Pope Francis, was one of thousands of death squad killings in that period that helped plunge El Salvador into a terrible civil war that lasted 12 years. Continue reading

Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar of El Salvador recently closed the diocesan human rights office, Tutela Legal, with little explanation. People and organisations across the world have protested against the decision.

Aryeh Neier, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, shares the history of Tutela Legal, and argues that the creation and work of the office during the civil war in El Salvador "should be a matter of great pride for the Catholic church in Latin America", with the office's files protected to support those people still ensuring justice is done for the tens of thousands of victims of crimes during that period.

Source: National Catholic Reporter

Image: Open Society Foundations

Aryeh Neier is the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations.

Among the welcome news coming on the heels of Pope Francis' election was an April announcement that the canonization cause of Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador has been, in the words of Italian Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, who leads the effort, "unblocked." Romero's path to official recognition as a martyr—he has long been a "popular" saint among many Catholics—officially commenced way back in 1997, 17 years after his murder by Salvadoran government agents as he led the Eucharist. His association with liberation theology has unfortunately complicated his cause, as both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI looked unfavorably on that movement's connection to Marxism.

Romero's rehabilitation is no doubt a signal of a change in politics at the Vatican. We might also hope it calls to mind not only Romero's death but all those lost in El Salvador's civil war of the 1980s, of which Romero was only one victim. Less than a year after his March 1980 death, three religious sisters—Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel—along with laywoman and missionary Jean Donovan were raped and murdered in December, suffering the victimization shared by so many women in times of war.

At the end of the decade in 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter suffered a similar fate on the San Salvador campus of the University of Central America. The priests were killed for their activism in service of the country's poor; mother and daughter Elba Ramos and Celia Marisela Ramos were, like so many poor working people, caught in the crossfire. By the war's end in 1992, some 75,000 Salvadorans shared their fate. Continue reading

Sources

• Bryan Cones in U.S. Catholic
• Image: Maurice Broaddus

Bryan Cones is a writer living in Boston.