# Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador has been canonized **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984 "2018-10-15T15:44:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/1 "2018-10-15T15:44:29Z")
I’ve always admired him. A brave, faithful and conscientious man, struck down too soon. [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/salvadorans-journey-rome-archbishop-oscar-romero-s-canonization-catholic-saint-n919481](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/salvadorans-journey-rome-archbishop-oscar-romero-s-canonization-catholic-saint-n919481) > **[Óscar Romero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero)** > > Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular Bishop of Tambeae, as Bishop of Santiago de María, and finally as the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. As archbishop, Romero spoke out against social injustice and violence amid the escalating conflict between the military government and left-wing insurgents that led to the Salvadoran Civil War. In ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/2 "2018-10-16T16:29:19Z")
The news are pretty confusing: I find places which say he was finally canonized as a martyr (which removes the requirement for an attributed miracle) and others which talk about a miracle attributed to him. I’m getting the feeling that people working on this kind of paperwork look at those reports with about as much dread as I look at reports about chemistry. Yesterday they were talking about it on the radio but I only caught parts of it, as I’m right now in France and my French is very limited. The speakers mentioned a woman being canonized at the same time, but I can’t find any information on that part; everything I find in Spanish or English is Romero and Paul VI. Do any of you have her name? ETA: finally found something which gave all the names, for anybody else who’s interested ([video in Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-p2t3nO5d0), names as well). It’s from Vatican News so they should be accurate. Papa Pablo VI, Mons. Óscar Romero, Francisco Spinelli, Vicente Romano, María Catalina Kasper, Nazaria Ignacia de Santa Teresa de Jesús March Mesa y Nuncio Sulprizio ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/3 "2018-10-16T17:41:22Z")
Here’s [an English article with short biographies](http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/meet-the-new-saints-to-be-canonized-oct.-14) of six of the seven (Pope Paul VI got his own article), as well. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/4 "2018-10-16T18:07:36Z")
Thanks for that, **kenobi 65**. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/5 "2018-10-16T19:58:12Z")
This is awesome – he’s one of my heroes, and the fact that the U.S. trained the guy who was behind his assassination, (not to mention invited the guy to the White House) has always pissed me off. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/6 "2018-10-16T21:51:29Z")
I’m not Catholic (or indeed religious at all), so his canonization means nothing to me in a spiritual sense. But I’m glad that the church has recognized and honored this brave man. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/7 "2018-10-16T22:00:42Z")
According to Catholic doctrine, canonization doesn’t mean anything in a spiritual sense, either. A saint is someone who’s in Heaven, so God makes people saints, not the Church. Canonization is just an official recognition that God has let someone into Heaven (probably not right at the time of canonization; the exact timing (if “timing” is even a meaningful thing to talk about) is a matter of theological debate). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/8 "2018-10-16T22:02:57Z")
> [@chaika](#): > > I’m not Catholic (or indeed religious at all), so his canonization means nothing to me in a spiritual sense. But I’m glad that the church has recognized and honored this brave man. this ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/9 "2018-10-16T23:49:03Z")
It’s interesting that the same man who portrayed Romero in a movie also played the crazy Gomez Addams. Shows the range of the actor I guess!😃 And I am glad that the church has recognized his status. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/10 "2018-10-16T23:58:02Z")
Thanks for the links about him. I was unfamiliar. I was born and raised Catholic, but ran screaming away as I grew older. Of the stories I was taught, I always thought St. Francis sounded like he had his shit together, and it seems like Oscar Romero thought so too. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/11 "2018-10-17T03:01:33Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The news are pretty confusing: I find places which say he was finally canonized as a martyr (which removes the requirement for an attributed miracle) and others which talk about a miracle attributed to him. I’m getting the feeling that people working on this kind of paperwork look at those reports with about as much dread as I look at reports about chemistry. The linked Wikipedia article has both. My reading is that there was some contention over whether the assassination was political or religious in nature. It would make sense then that they might have wanted a miracle to not have to deal with that part. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/12 "2018-10-17T03:59:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > According to Catholic doctrine, canonization doesn’t mean anything in a spiritual sense, either. A saint is someone who’s in Heaven, so God makes people saints, not the Church. Canonization is just an official recognition that God has let someone into Heaven (probably not right at the time of canonization; the exact timing (if “timing” is even a meaningful thing to talk about) is a matter of theological debate). Yeah, it would be a bit silly for God to wait until humans are finished with the bureaucracy. The purpose for the Feast of All Saints (aka “all deceased faithful” or maybe “all faithful deceased”, I’m translating) is to act as official recognition that there’s a lot more people in Heaven than people who have the paperwork. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archbishop-oscar-romero-of-el-salvador-has-been-canonized/822984/13 "2018-10-17T12:39:47Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yeah, it would be a bit silly for God to wait until humans are finished with the bureaucracy. The purpose for the Feast of All Saints (aka “all deceased faithful” or maybe “all faithful deceased”, I’m translating) is to act as official recognition that there’s a lot more people in Heaven than people who have the paperwork. Indeed - canonization about the Church recognizing specific individuals among the “saints” who are worthy of being held up as venerated examples. Bishop Romero’s murder was one major milestone in the whole Central American multicountry proxy war of the 70s and 80s. He was neither the first nor last cleric to be slain for daring to speak up, but having the actual Archbishop of the capital city taken down while saying Mass was totally brazen. I was not aware the cause for canonization of Paul VI had advanced so far. In a way it makes for a successional triad with John Paul II and John XXIII in the process of transforming the church and papacy into their current forms – he was the one who had to take it upon himself to put into effect the Vatican II reforms, and start the process of a Church looking outward with the Pope going out to the rest of the world, that JP2 would take to a whole other level.