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Salvadorans rejoice as Romero beatified

Slain archbishop fought for poor

A man shouts that justice has finally been done during the beatification ceremony Saturday in San Salvador, El Salvador, for Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose image is featured on his shirt. Many of the more than 260,000 who came to witness the ceremony refer to him as “Saint Romero of the Americas.” (Associated Press)
A man shouts that justice has finally been done during the beatification ceremony Saturday in San Salvador, El Salvador, for Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose image is featured on his shirt. Many of the more than 260,000 who came to witness the ceremony refer to him as “Saint Romero of the Americas.” (Associated Press)
Any Cabrera And Marcos Aleman Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Archbishop Oscar Romero was beatified by Roman Catholic officials Saturday in an emotional ceremony elevating the once-controversial cleric to the ranks of the blessed 35 years after his assassination.

Underneath a rainbow halo ringing the sun, Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Vatican’s saint-making office, called on the crowd of some 260,000-plus to rejoice in a “feast of peace, fraternity and forgiveness.”

“Romero’s spirit remains alive and gives comfort to the marginalized people of the world,” Cardinal Amato said. “His preference for the poor was not ideological, but evangelical. His charity extended to his persecutors.”

Beatification is the first step toward possible canonization, although many of those who packed the Salvadoran capital’s Savior of the World Plaza and the surrounding streets already credit Romero with miracles and refer to him as “Saint Romero of the Americas.

Worshippers from across the nation, many of them bused in from the countryside, held up poster-size images of Romero and carried white and yellow flags of the Vatican.

“They can kill the prophet, but not the voice of justice,” intoned pilgrims from the Our Lady of the Assumption parish in a San Salvador suburb.

“His words will remain for eternity,” said Marlene Sanchez, 26.

In life, Romero was loved by the poor, whom he defended passionately, and loathed by conservatives who considered him too close to left-leaning movements in the tumultuous years ahead of El Salvador’s 1980-92 civil war.

The archbishop was shot through the heart by a sniper while celebrating Mass in a cancer hospital chapel on March 24, 1980. The day before, he had delivered a strongly worded admonition to the U.S.-backed military to stop abusing civilians. Those words were read aloud Saturday: “I beg you, I beseech you, I order you, in the name of God, cease the repression.”

Earlier this year, Pope Francis declared that Romero was martyred out of hatred of his faith, clearing the way for beatification. “The beatification … is a cause for great joy for Salvadorans and for those of us who rejoice at the example of the greatest children of the church,” Francis said in a statement. “Monsignor Romero, who built peace from the strength of love, gave testimony of the faith with his life, committed to the very end.”

At the sun-kissed square in west-central San Salvador, officials presented relics associated with Romero including the shirt he wore the day of his assassination. Many observers admired the appearance of the solar halo, an optical phenomenon produced when sunlight refracts through ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Officials closed off about 2 square miles of streets nearby to accommodate the crush of pilgrims.

Among the crowd were many young people who only learned about Romero through the stories of their parents, grandparents and church officials.

“He influenced pastoral work to put itself at the service of the people,” said 24-year-old seminarian Carlos Zavala. “I’m incredibly excited.”