Cause of Oscar Romero

[didymus]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum.
Just wondering why the cause of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated 29 yrs ago tomorrow seems to be going nowhere. I thought sainthood was pretty automatic for martyrs but then I found this:

Vatican: Beatification cause of slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero at standstill

To put Romero on the path to sainthood, the church must first determine if the Archbishop of San Salvador was killed for religious reasons or for other motives, said Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, who heads the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
“To be a martyr, the Catholic faithful must be killed for ‘hatred of the faith,’” Saraiva Martins said at a news conference at the Vatican discussing new sainthood procedures. “There can be political, social motives. If the motive is not clear it must be studied in depth.”

Well, DUH! Archbishop Romero’s death was part of a campaign against the Church, killing priests, nuns and lay workers, how is that not hatred?

They canonised St. Maximilian Kolbe as “a martyr to charity” for taking another man’s place at Auschwitz, how is an Archbishop cut down while preaching in defense of the poor not a martyr?

 

[LilyM]

If he was a martyr that might put him on the fast track to become a Venerable or a Blessed, not a saint.

And I think the Church which thoroughly investigates every cause for beatification, has more information upon which to judge the circumstances of Romero’s death - and more importantly the state of his soul - than you do. Maybe he had serious faults and failings in his character, indicative of a lack of sanctity, that the general public, including yourself, are not aware of, for example.

Regardless, even if he were to become a venerable or a blessed there’s still little things like further investigation, plus the occurrence of at a minimum one verified miracle, before someone can be declared a saint. So there’s nothing ‘automatic’ about the process at all.

 

[benedictgal]

Unfortunately, the one who I think should have been canonized from the get-go, Blessed Miguel Pro, is still not up for sainthood yet. He was martyred for the faith in Mexico in 1927, back when being a Catholic priest, let alone a Catholic, was an automatic death sentence. He was the protomartyr and yet he has not been made a saint, while other martyred priests have already been raised to the altar.

The supposed charge against Blessed Miguel was sedition because the Pro brothers happened to own the car that the would-be assasin of General Obregon was driving. However, the real reason was because Blessed Miguel was ministering clandestinely to the Mexican faithful.

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Unfortunately, the one who I think should have been canonized from the get-go, Blessed Miguel Pro, is still not up for sainthood yet. He was martyred for the faith in Mexico in 1927, back when being a Catholic priest, let alone a Catholic, was an automatic death sentence. He was the protomartyr and yet he has not been made a saint, while other martyred priests have already been raised to the altar.

The supposed charge against Blessed Miguel was sedition because the Pro brothers happened to own the car that the would-be assasin of General Obregon was driving. However, the real reason was because Blessed Miguel was ministering clandestinely to the Mexican faithful.

Thanks for bringing up one of my heroes of the faith! His last words were “Viva Cristo Rey!”

Deacon Ed

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum.
Just wondering why the cause of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated 29 yrs ago tomorrow seems to be going nowhere. I thought sainthood was pretty automatic for martyrs but then I found this:

Well, DUH! Archbishop Romero’s death was part of a campaign against the Church, killing priests, nuns and lay workers, how is that not hatred?

They canonised St. Maximilian Kolbe as “a martyr to charity” for taking another man’s place at Auschwitz, how is an Archbishop cut down while preaching in defense of the poor not a martyr?

There was indeed a campaign against Catholic clerics and religious, but the overall situation in Latin America leads to the same question about most all of those targeted and even killed: were they killed clearly and specifically because of the faith, or was it because of a leftist social agenda? They may have believed that agenda was consequent upon their faith, and they may even have been correct (even though many liberationists of the period were more Marxist than Catholic and would have failed that test), but if the government was targeting them because they were part of a political coalition that included but was not limited to Catholics, then it is far from apparent that they were killed out of hatred for the faith.

Let’s say that next year American pro-life advocates start suffering persecution and death for their beliefs. We might say that Catholics killed for the pro-life cause were defending what is obviously a fundamental Catholic moral principle, but if evangelicals, Jews, and atheists were also being killed because of their pro-life advocacy, could we immediately jump to the conclusion that the Catholic pro-lifers were killed out of hatred for the Catholic faith? The case of Romero is even more complicated because it isn’t as clear that the positions for which he was standing were so strictly consequent upon the Catholic faith.

As for St. Maximilian, I readily agree that his honoring as a martyr is somewhat confusing due to the immediate circumstances of his death, but instead of saying that this should automatically grant Romero martyr status I would say it makes me wonder if the charism of infallibility also applies to the category under which we honor the saint or if, perhaps, we may simply have gotten that one wrong. Still, one advantage that St. Maximilian has over Abp. Romero is that we can fairly safely say he was in the camp because he was a Catholic priest - the Polish priesthood was targeted specifically as such by the Nazi regime, something we’re not as sure about yet with the clerics and religious of El Salvador.

Thanks for bringing up one of my heroes of the faith! His last words were “Viva Cristo Rey!”

Deacon Ed

When I was presenting to our youth group last feast of Christ the King I made a point of mentioning those famous last words (of many Cristeros) to the kids. They really give meat to what Christ’s kingship is all about.

 

[mystified]

One of the “Independent Catholic” churches has already canonized him .

We must always remember that there are many genuine saints who have not been canonized, but are saints nevertheless. Think of all those who suffered and died in Nazi POW camps, for example.

Is Obispo Oscar a martir?’ I’ bel’i’eve so’. Is a martir a sanint?’’ Yes, canonized or not.

 

[AveSantaMaria]

Wasn’t St. Edith Stein also a martyr for Jewish heritage? Why would she be a ‘martyr for the faith’ and not Archbishop Oscar Romero. I heard that his canonization was being delayed because about controversies concerning whether or not he was involved with liberation theology.

 

[didymus]

There was indeed a campaign against Catholic clerics and religious, but the overall situation in Latin America leads to the same question about most all of those targeted and even killed: were they killed clearly and specifically because of the faith, or was it because of a leftist social agenda? They may have believed that agenda was consequent upon their faith, and they may even have been correct (even though many liberationists of the period were more Marxist than Catholic and would have failed that test), but if the government was targeting them because they were part of a political coalition that included but was not limited to Catholics, then it is far from apparent that they were killed out of hatred for the faith.

Archbishop Romero was not part of the liberation theology movement, I’ve never heard any claim that he was anything but orthodox. He was a voice for the poor against an oppressive regime and thus I’m sure a lot of liberationists gathered around his leadership – but not under his control.

Let’s say that next year American pro-life advocates start suffering persecution and death for their beliefs. We might say that Catholics killed for the pro-life cause were defending what is obviously a fundamental Catholic moral principle, but if evangelicals, Jews, and atheists were also being killed because of their pro-life advocacy, could we immediately jump to the conclusion that the Catholic pro-lifers were killed out of hatred for the Catholic faith? The case of Romero is even more complicated because it isn’t as clear that the positions for which he was standing were so strictly consequent upon the Catholic faith.

Hmm . . . in that scenario I’d say that if I am killed at a pro-life rally that I was involved in as part of my faith then I “died in the line of duty” and I’m a martyr regardless of the exct motives of the person who fired the shot.
The Jews, Muslims, evangelicals and atheists would be martyrs to their own faiths, I suppose, or martyrs to the cause. But the Church only canonises its own.

Btw, speaking of murder in a cathedral, Thomas Becket would not be a martyr by the “hatred of the Faith” definition. Henry II was in a power struggle with the Church, not attacking the Faith like his later namesake.

I suppose it’s a mistake to concentrate on the manner of his death anyway since we are supposed to emulate saints’ lives. I got thinking of him because last week I heard of two priests being killed in Colombia, then another one in Africa, the one in India. Maybe he can be patron of endagered priests someday.