Twentieth Century Peacemaker: Archbishop Oscar Romero

Thirty-five years ago, Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated by a right-wing death squad in El Salvador. In February, Pope Francis recognized Romero as a martyr who had been killed “in hatred of the faith.” On Saturday, the Church will beatify the late Archbishop Romero at a ceremony in San Salvador, bringing him one step closer to sainthood. While Catholics and non-Catholics inside and outside of El Salvador have, unofficially, considered Romero a saint for nearly three decades, his beatification gives us another opportunity to reflect on one of the twentieth century’s greatest peacemakers.

Oscar Romero had initially been chosen Archbishop because the Church hierarchy believed that he would not make too many waves in turbulent 1970s El Salvador. While he was a man of deep faith and concern for the poor, he was not one who connected people’s poverty to unjust social, political, and economic structures. Instead, Romero fed the hungry, visited the imprisoned, and called on friends in authority to help struggling Salvadorans. However, the fraudulent 1977 elections, the murders of thousands of poor Salvadorans, and the repression of the Church, including the murder of his friend Fr. Rutilio Grande, S.J., further opened his eyes to the causes of the suffering around him. Romero listened to the cries of the poor. His Tutela Legal office collected testimonies documenting human rights abuses, mostly by the State’s security forces, which he would then share with the entire country during his Sunday homilies. It was one way that he would give voice to the voiceless.

His faith not only led him to speak out against the violence, but to become more involved in actively working to resolve the country’s problems. On October 15, 1979, junior military officers carried out a bloodless coup in hopes of preventing further bloodshed between the armed left and right. The coup plotters had the support of the Jesuit-run University of Central America, technocrats, the Christian Democratic Party, and the Communists. They also had the support of the Archbishop who was not afraid to get his hands dirty in politics.

Romero’s desire to “keep to the center, watchfully, in the traditional way, but seeking justice,” won him few friends among the revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries. There was no consensus among the armed left on how to respond to the coup as its success would derail their revolutionary dreams. These political-military organizations would go on to establish the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) one year later. The far-right, on the other hand, interpreted the coup as playing into the hands of the “communists,” thereby undermining their privileged position in society. They thwarted many of the junta’s reforms and increased repression against the popular sectors. Some of these individuals would go on to establish the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) in 1981.

When the Carter administration sought to provide additional military assistance to El Salvador in hopes that the US and the new government would gain leverage over extreme elements of the military and right-wing, Archbishop Romero wrote President Carter expressing his opinion that such a policy would only worsen the situation. US military support, “rather than favoring greater justice and peace in El Salvador will make injustice and repression against the organization of the people, who have been struggling for the respect of their most fundamental rights, even more acute.” The groups over which the US sought to gain leverage “only know how to oppress the people and favor the interests of the Salvadoran oligarchy.”

On March 23, 1980, Archbishop Romero pleaded with members of the Salvadoran military to stop killing their brothers and sisters. He told them that one must obey the law of God even if it was contradictory to the orders of one’s military superiors. He had sealed his own fate. He was shot and killed while saying Mass the next day. The coup’s failure and Romero’s murder ushered in over a decade of war, costing the lives of over 75,000 Salvadorans.

While there have been calls for canonization since his death, his beatification has only become reality after changes in El Salvador and the Catholic Church. Three Salvadoran ambassadors to the Vatican lobbied against Romero, “arguing that Romero was still a politically divisive figure in El Salvador and that his elevation to the altars could be manipulated by the leftist groups.” Romero’s image often appeared on t-shirts alongside those of Ché Guevara and Salvador Allende, as well as Salvadoran Communist leader Schafik Handal. Through no fault of his own, Romero’s association with these leftist icons did not help his cause. While time has not healed all wounds, the end of the Cold War reduced the political stakes over whether Romero was killed for his politics or his faith. A truth commission identified Roberto D’Aubuisson, one of ARENA’s founders, as the man responsible for ordering Romero’s murder. ARENA occupied the presidency of El Salvador between 1989 and 2009. While El Salvador is still divided politically, ARENA formally supported Romero’s canonization in 2007. The risk that the right would object to a celebration of Romero by turning to violence is lower than at any other time in history.

Two years ago I argued that "the selection of a Latin American Pope might give added hope for the canonisation of the murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador." That certainly seems to have been the case as several stories have since emerged indicating that Pope Francis had unblocked Romero’s canonization in April 2013. However, it appears that Pope Benedict XVI had also decided to unblock the process in 2012. Romero’s beatification was instead held up by conservative Latin American bishops who feared it would embolden the more liberation-oriented wing of the Church in Latin America. Francis’ support for Romero certainly helped, but obstruction in El Salvador and the Americas seems to have been just as important.

For me, Romero’s Catholic faith led him to struggle in favor of the poor and the oppressed. This humble Servant of God’s faith threatened those on the armed left and right who chose violence to further their agenda. And the right killed him for it. Romero’s beatification should provide Catholics and non-Catholics alike with an opportunity to learn more about one of the twentieth century’s greatest peacemakers.