A Mass to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero will take place this Sunday, 11 a.m., at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Shrine in Lindenwold.
Oscar Romero, as archbishop of San Salvador in the 1970s, was a leading voice for those against government persecution, poverty and social injustice. On March 24, 1980, he was assassinated while celebrating Mass.
The Congregation for Saints’ Causes authorized the opening of his cause in 1993.
At a March 15 Mass in Washington marking the anniversary of the archbishop’s death, Auxiliary Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez of San Salvador said there’s strong hope and signals from the Vatican that beatification for the man many consider a modern-day saint will come in three years.
“Even the pope himself is desirous and convinced that (Romero) is a saint and martyr,” Bishop Rosa Chavez said, referring to a comment that then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, made in Aparecida, Brazil, during a general meeting of the Latin American bishops in 2007.
Cardinal Bergoglio was quoted then as saying of Archbishop Romero: “If I were pope, I would have already canonized him.”
For the process toward sainthood to continue, the pope needs to formally declare Archbishop Romero a martyr, meaning he died for the faith. A miracle attributed to a sainthood candidate’s intercession is not needed for the beatification of a martyr. But a miracle would be needed for his canonization.
The liturgy in Lindenwold is co-sponsored by the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Shrine, and by the El Salvador consulates in New Jersey and Delaware.
All are invited. For more information, call Gelen Hernandez, Director of Hispanic Ministries at the parish, at 856-627-2222.
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