Pope Pushes Sainthood Process Forward for Radical Salvadoran Archbishop

[DonViejo]

By Ben Mathis-Lilley

Pope Francis has declared Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador a martyr, creating a path to sainthood for the murdered figure whose beatification had been held up by his association with leftist “liberation theology.” Romero was shot while celebrating Mass in 1980; martyrdom requires that an individual be killed in odium fidei or in hatred for their Catholic faith. Says the New York Times: “One of the reasons Romero’s case had lagged was over questions about whether he was killed for his politics in support of the poor or for his faith.”

The National Catholic Reporter says Romero’s beatification (which is the last step before canonization or sainthood) “is expected within months.” The archbishop was killed a day after advocating in a sermon that soldiers refuse to enforce the Salvadoran government’s oppressive policies.

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http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/02/03/oscar_romero_sainthood_pope_declares_salvadoran_archbishop_a_martyr.html?wpsrc=slatest_newsletter&sid=5388f1c6dd52b8e4110003de

[cbayer]

1. His politics were in the name of his faith, imo.

Better than Benedict, that's for sure.

[rug]

2. "It is not enough to be good."

Here there is a challenge from Christ to the goodness of humankind. It is not enough to be good. It is not enough to not do evil. My Christianity is something more positive; it is not a negative. There are many who say, “But I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t do anything bad to anyone.” That’s not enough. You are still lacking a great deal. It is not enough to be good.

[okasha]

3. I hope there is also a cause in progress

for Jean Donovan, Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford and Maura Clarke.

[struggle4progress]

4. Romero was never a radical. In fact, he had a long reputation as a conservative.

But he did object to government violence, once he finally realized how widespread and entrenched it was. And he objected effectively. So they killed him in church while he was celebrating mass