San Salvador's Archbishop Thinks Archbishop Romero to be Beatified

The Archbishop of San Salvador wants to avoid instrumentalizing or politicizing the deceased, in order to make the beatification process of the current Congregation in Rome easier.

The Archbishop of San Salvator, Jose Luis Escobar Alas, awaits an upcoming beatification of the murdered Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero (1917-1980). The Archbishop said this on Sunday in San Salvador at a Press conference on the 93rd Birthday of his predecessor murdered 30 years ago. Archbishop Escobar wants to avoid instrumentaliziing or politicizing the death, in order to make the job of the current Congregation in Rome more difficult. [Hence why it stalled out the first time.] "We will pray to God, that Archbishop Romero will soon be beatified," said ++Escobar to the website "Terra".

Romero was murdered in 1980 during a service. For his protest against oppression and exploitation and as a voice of the poor, he was well-known throughout Central America. The back ground of the murder is still not widely known today. The suspected wire puller was never apprehended.

According to reports from an independent "truth commission", which attempted to uncover crimes committed during the Civil War in El Salvador, Robert D'Aubuisson, Major of the Salvadoran Army and Chief of the suspected death squads, was the primary instigator of the murder. Later he founded the conservative right "ARENA" -Party and ran unsuccessfully for the office of President. He died in 1992 of cancer. Pope John Paul II. visited Romero's grave in the Cathedral of San Salvador.

The advocates for this will want to de-emphasize the political and military nature of ++Romero's activities which led to his assassination, but it's unavoidable that his motives were not the defense of the Catholic Faith, but in defense of a political programme being promoted by the Soviet Union.

In any event, even John Paul II stopped short of beatifying or honoring the Archbishop owing to the controversial nature of this prelate in his own country, by members of the Church who viewed Romero's meddling in politics as unproductive and even supportive of the Marxists who were building "base communities" and pushing for greater centralization of the economy (against the best interests of the country as it turned out).

Of course, US Catholic is wild about +Romero's beatification, as they probably feel it will give more fuel for their social-justice and anti-Church initiatives.