Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) –
This morning five hundred pilgrims from El Salvador, in Rome to give
thanks for the beatification of the bishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, met
with the Holy Father in the Paul VI Hall. The Pope defined the
Salvadoran bishop martyr as a “good pastor, full of love for God
and close to his brothers who, living the dynamism of the Beatitudes,
gave his life in a violent way while celebrating the Eucharist, the
supreme sacrifice of love, sealing with his own blood the Gospel that
he announced”.
“From the very beginning of the life
of the Church, Christians have always believed that the blood of
martyrs is a seed for Christians, as Tertullian said. Today too, in a
dramatic way, the blood of a great number of Christian martyrs
continues to be shed on the field of the world, with the certain hope
that will bear fruit in a rich harvest of holiness, justice,
reconciliation and love of God. But we must remember that one is not
born a martyr. Archbishop Romero remarked, 'We must be willing to die
for our faith, even if the Lord does not grant us this honour. ...
Giving life does not only mean being assassinated; giving life,
having the spirit of martyrdom, means offering it in silence, in
prayer, in the honest fulfilment of one's duty; in this silence of
everyday life, giving life a little at a time'”.
“Indeed, the martyr is not someone
relegated to the past, a beautiful image that adorns our churches and
which we recall with a certain nostalgia. No, the martyr is a
brother, a sister, who continues to accompany us in the communion of
saints and who, united with Christ, does not ignore our earthly
pilgrimage, our sufferings, our anxieties. In the recent history of
this beloved country, the witness of Msgr. Romero has joined that of
the other brothers and sisters … who are a treasure and
well-founded hope for the Church and for Salvadoran society. The
impact of his commitment can still be felt in our times”.
Just a few weeks before the beginning
of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, the example of Msgr. Romero
constitutes, for his beloved nation, a “stimulus to a renewed
proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to announce it in a way
that all people can understand, so that the merciful love of the
Divine Saviour enters the heart and the history of this good people.
The holy people of God in pilgrimage in El Salvador have a series of
difficult tasks ahead of them, which require, as in the rest of the
world, an evangelising announcement that allows witness, in the
communion of Christ's one Church, of authentic Christian life”.
“On this occasion, I make my own the
sentiments of the Blessed Msgr. Romero, who with the well-founded
hope longed to see the happy time when the terrible suffering of many
of our brothers, due to hate, violence and injustice, would
disappear. May the Lord, with a shower of mercy and goodness and a
torrent of grace convert all hearts, and may the beautiful homeland
He has given you, that bears the name of the Divine Saviour, be
transform into a country where all are redeemed and all are brothers,
without differences, since we are all one in Christ our Lord”.
The Holy Father concluded with some
unscripted remarks. “I wish to add something we are forgetting”,
he said. “The martyrdom of Msgr. Romero was not fulfilled at the
moment of his death – it was a martyrdom of witness, of prior
suffering and prior persecution, up to his death. But even
afterwards, following his death – I was a young priest and a
witness to this – he was defamed, slandered, his memory despoiled,
and his martyrdom continued also for his brethren in the priesthood
and in the episcopate. This is not hearsay, but rather things I have
heard. Or perhaps it is best to see it thus: a man who continues to
be a martyr. After having given his life, he continues to give it by
allowing himself to be assailed by all this misunderstanding and
slander. This gives me strength. Only God knows the stories of those
people who have given their lives, who have died, and continue to be
stoned with the hardest stone that exists in the world: language”.