The
official Vaticanese language recently stated that Archbishop Oscar Romero’s
sainthood cause has been “unblocked.”
Well
who was blocking it in the first place?
The
answer John Paul ll, Benedict XVl and the whole curial apparatus who slavishly
took their cues from the power centre. Much to their embarrassment these men
never grasped the holiness of Romero or the reality of El Salvador. They
listened to the wealthy landowning class “who preferred to dine with the
military junta than break bread with the poor.”(David Yallop) They kept
repeating the cheap mantra that Romero was a dupe of the Marxists or Communists,
a secret proponent of the feared liberation theology. The detractors of Romero
inside the church used the canard that there were “theological errors” in his
writings. John Paul ll was persuaded by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the
Faith under the Eastern European Cardinal Franjo Seper to reassign Romero. John
Paul ll had the order to do this on the day Romero was martyred. Previously;y
the pope had humiliated Romero by making him wait four weeks for an audience.
Later it was reported the pope regretted this.
After
the Archbishop was murdered while sayinh mass, an italian judge wrote to the
paper Corriere della Sera:
“Why did the traveling pope not immediately set off
for San Salvador to pick up the chalice that had been dropped from Romero’s
hands and continue the mass which the murdered archbishop had
begun?”
The
answer was John Paul ll simply failed to understand the stunning oppression of
the Salvadoran people and the brave archbishop who had become their greatest
advocate. Much like he failed to understand the papal sycophant the disgraced
founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel Degollado. The latter, a
serial abuser poured millions into Vatican coffers and gained papal trust. In
2004 John Paul ll ordained 60 Legionaries in the Vatican labelling Maciel as
the perfect example of priesthood to be followed by these young priests. Well
maybe not and certainly not Romero.
Within
months of his martyrdom Oscar Romero was hailed as a saint by much of the Latin
American world but the officials including the pope could not admit that they
had horribly misjudged an authentic disciple of Jesus.
And
now within six weeks of becoming pope another Latin American who understands the
region and the popular sainthood of Romero has “unblocked” the whole
process.
Another
nice move by Pope Francis.
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