Scottish Catholic Observer

“We know that every effort to better society, especially when injustice and sin are so ingrained, is an effort that God blesses, that God wants, that God demands of us.”

These words were spoken by Archbishop Oscar Romero moments before he was shot while celebrating Mass in the Church of the Divine Providence Hospital in San Salvador on March 24, 1980. His homily was halted by the gunshot which killed him.

That a priest should be murdered while celebrating Mass was shocking news to those of us who heard it at the time. It seemed outrageous that something so heinous should happen in the 20th century.

But perhaps we shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, many priests and nuns had been murdered in El Salvador in the years leading up to Oscar Romero’s death, and his own ministry seems to have been galvanised by the murder of his friend, Fr Rutilio Grande.

Indeed, it seems that Archbishop Romero himself knew he was a target and had received some very serious death threats in the months before he died. Responding to one of those threats he said: “I want to assure you, and I ask for your prayers that I be faithful to this promise, that I will not abandon my people, rather I will run the same risks with them that my ministry requires.”

What had Archbishop Romero done that was felt to be so dangerous, so challenging to his assassins? Following on from his ordination he was a parish priest for more than 20 years. He was known for his sermons and was a dedicated pastor, visiting prisons and working with Catholic aid and relief agency Caritas to provide food to the poor.

He was considered to be a conservative priest and regarded as a ‘safe pair of hands.’

In 1967 he was made a monsignor and moved to San Salvador. It is here that he met Fr Rutilio Grande, an outspoken champion of the poor and oppressed. In spite of their differences in approach, the two men become close friends.

In June 1970, Mgr Romero was appointed a bishop. In 1974 the army killed three people from a village in his diocese and Bishop Romero wrote to El Salvador’s president protesting these murders.

But worse was to come as the violence escalated and priests and other religious were targeted.

When he was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977 he was still seen as someone happy to maintain the status quo but, only a month after he became archbishop, his close friend Fr Grande and two other people were ambushed and killed.

In his homily after Fr Grande’s death, Archbishop Romero said: “The liberation that Fr Grande preached was inspired by Faith. A Faith that speaks to us of eternal life. The liberation that ends in the happiness of God. The liberation that comes from repentance from sin. The liberation that is founded on Christ, the only force of salvation.”

From that moment Archbishop Romero became an outspoken voice for the oppressed and the poor. His radio homilies were listened to by thousands of people every week and his message began to be heard outside his country.

Throughout the next two years, Archbishop Romero received many death threats as he increasingly became a rallying point for the poor people of his country.

On March 23, 1980, the day before he died, Archbishop Romero denounced the government and the army for their policies saying: “In the name of God, and in the name of his suffering people whose cries rise to Heaven more loudly each day, I beg you, I implore you, I order you, in the name of God, stop the repression.”

As he celebrated Mass the following day, Archbishop Romero was gunned down. His last words were: “May God have mercy on the assassin.”

Needless to say no one was ever charged with the murder of Archbishop Romero.

On May 23, 2015, Oscar Romero was beatified at a ceremony in San Salvador attended by 250,000 people. The homily given that day by Cardinal Angelo Amato spoke to the life and legacy of a man revered throughout the world for his courage, his commitment and his Faith.

“The beatification today of Mgr Romero is a feast of joy, of peace, of brotherhood, of welcome, of forgiveness. Romero is not a symbol of division, but of peace, of harmony, of fraternity. Let us bear his message in our hearts, in our homes, and give thanks to the Lord for this his faithful servant who gives the Church his holiness and to all humanity his kindness, his gentleness.”

On August 15 we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Blessed Oscar Romero’s birth. Let us remember his care for the poor and his bravery in defending his Faith and let us pray that he will soon join the ranks of those recognised by the Church as saints.

– On August 15, Blessed Oscar Romero was adopted as a patron by SCIAF.

– Courtesy of Justice and Peace Scotland.