Blessed Romero

Richard A. Sokerka

Pope Francis has often said that there are more martyrs now than in the early Church. He is moved, he said, whenever he thinks of those who have been killed for their faith, encouraging the faithful to remember them and their courageous witness.

The words of our Holy Father on martyrdom in today’s world resonate with the recent beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was assassinated in 1980 while celebrating Mass. In his homilies he often championed for the poor, for a stop to the violence in his country and for brotherhood among those whose divisions set off a 12-year civil war.

In a message sent for the beatification on May 23, Pope Francis said Archbishop Romero “gave testimony of the faith with his life.”

The proof of that at the beatification ceremony in San Salvador, was the shirt he died in, soaked in blood, after an assassin’s bullet took his life on the altar. That blood-stained shirt, now a relic, was carried to the altar in a glass case during the ceremony.

“The Church grows thanks to the blood of the martyrs,” Pope Francis has said. “It begins with witness, day after day, and it can end like Jesus, the first martyr, the first witness, the faithful witness — with blood.”

Pope Francis said Blessed Romero knew “how to guide, defend and protect his flock, remaining faithful to the Gospel and in communion with the whole Church. His ministry was distinguished by a particular attention to the poor and marginalized. And at the time of his death, while celebrating the Holy Sacrifice, love and reconciliation, he received the grace to be fully identified with the one who gave his life for his sheep — Jesus Christ.”

May Blessed Romero’s courageous witness to the faith inspire us all to spread the Good News.