{"id":23239,"date":"2017-08-16T23:19:10","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T21:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/?p=23239"},"modified":"2017-08-16T23:19:54","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T21:19:54","slug":"champion-of-romeros-sainthood-cause-today-martyrdom-is-the-only-way-to-follow-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/champion-of-romeros-sainthood-cause-today-martyrdom-is-the-only-way-to-follow-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Champion of Romero\u2019s sainthood cause: Today martyrdom is the only way to follow Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Giangrav\u00e8<\/a><\/p>\n

ROME – In a homily celebrating the centenary of the birth of Blessed Oscar Romero, Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said that nowadays martyrdom \u201cis the only way to follow Jesus and the only way to be truly blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paglia, who is the president of the Vatican\u2019s Academy for Life, said during the special Mass on August 12 that he hopes that the canonization cause succeeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping alive the memory of Romero is a noble task,\u201d the archbishop told the faithful in St. George\u2019s Cathedral in Southwark. \u201cMy great hope is that Pope Francis will soon canonize him-a Saint! Over the years, we insisted on Romero being recognized as a martyr.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archbishop is the postulator for the canonization of Romero, who is hailed\u00a0as a\u00a0champion of the poor, the oppressed, and Latin America\u2019s liberation theology movement, who was shot to death in El Salvador in 1980 as he was celebrating Mass.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Head of Vatican\u2019s Academy of Life: Dialogue is love, not compromise<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The recent reforms made by Pope Francis in his letter\u00a0Maiorem hac dilectionem<\/em>\u00a0(Greater love than this) open up the door for the canonization of Romero. In it, the pope expanded the categories for sainthood to include those who were not martyred in the strict sense – killed in hatred for the faith – but who made an \u201coffering of their life\u201d (oblatio vitae<\/em>) that led to their death.<\/p>\n

In his homily, Paglia emphasized how the latter can easily be applied to Romero.<\/p>\n

Romero \u201cwas afraid of dying, and he confessed that to his friends on a number of occasions. But he loved Jesus and his flock more than he loved life\u2019\u201d Paglia said. \u201cThis is the meaning of martyrdom. Love for Jesus and the poor is greater than love for oneself. This is the power of Romero\u2019s message.<\/p>\n

\u201cA simple believer, if overwhelmed by love, becomes strong, unbeatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the Mass, Paglia paid homage to Romero and \u201chis Gospel witness that brings light to believers and non-believers alike,\u201d for which \u201cAs it often happens with prophets, Romero paid with life.<\/p>\n

\u201cPope Francis has made it clear that Romero was persecuted even after his death with the opposition to his beatification that many persons mounted,\u201d the archbishop continued.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0New method for declaring saints welcome in an age of Christian persecution<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Pope Francis declared Romero a martyr in May 2016, but it was Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI who had lifted an informal block on Romero\u2019s sainthood cause. Romero\u2019s detractors maintained that his death didn\u2019t meet the traditional test for martyrdom, but the block also reflected a certain ambivalence regarding liberation theology within the Church.<\/div>\n

In his homily, Paglia remembered when Romero was declared a martyr and more than sixty thousand people visited his tomb and \u201cmany, just as when he was alive, spoke to him because they felt he was still with them!<\/p>\n

\u201cThey silenced him with a single shot to the heart, but now he speaks to us even more clearly,\u201d the archbishop said. \u201cHis death is written in the heart of the Twentieth Century Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paglia also said that Romero\u2019s name was left out of the Celebration for New Martyrs during the Great Jubilee of 2000 due to the \u201cstrong Curia opposition\u201d but that St. Pope John Paul II added it in, \u201cwriting that Romero was an example of the Shepherd who lays down his life for his flock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, Romero\u2019s death continues to speak to us in the martyrdoms of the many priests in the Middle East who have been assassinated while celebrating Sunday Mass,\u201d he said. \u201cRomero was the first in this long line heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with being a witness for modern-day Christians who face persecution – Paglia added – Romero also advocated for a Church that is committed to serving the less fortunate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did not shirk before the forces of power, and he found his power in the love that Christ has for the poor,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the Gospel that led him, it was the Magisterium of Vatican II and of the Latin American Church with its preferential option for the poor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a world where self-love and self preservation are supreme values, where we protect ourselves from others by raising walls and barriers both in our hearts and in our relationships, Romero\u2019s example is a shining beacon, a light that delivers individuals and peoples from the darkness of egoism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archbishop continued by listing the many examples of poverty, war, famine and terrorism around the word and insisted the necessity of having \u201ca real conversion away from fear, indifference, superficiality.<\/p>\n

\u201cRomero became a defender of the poor, and we too are asked to leave behind a Christianity that is just habit and self-reference,\u201d he said. \u201cToday, in our own world, we need a Gospel Christianity that knows how to witness love for everyone, especially for the poor, a Christianity that inspires us to give our life for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0El Salvador kicks off jubilee year to honor Oscar Romero<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Paglia depicted in his homily a hero who exemplified the Church that Vatican II wanted by reaching out to those in need, the poor, and being a witness to the Gospel in the face of injustice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Romero in Heaven and with Francis on the Throne of Peter, the Church goes out of itself and becomes a Good Samaritan in the world,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cWe needed a Latin American pope before Romero could be raised to the honors of the altar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paglia concluded by reminding the faithful that being Christians cannot be limited to performing tasks out of habit and thinking only of personal interests. Today, Paglia said, \u201cmartyrdom-giving one\u2019s life-is the only way to follow the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n

(from CRUX<\/strong>)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claire Giangrav\u00e8 ROME – In a homily celebrating the centenary of the birth of Blessed Oscar Romero, Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said that nowadays martyrdom \u201cis the only way to follow Jesus and the only way to be truly blessed.\u201d Paglia, who is the president of the Vatican\u2019s Academy for Life, said during the special […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-rassegna"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Oscar_Romero_2011-690x450.jpg?fit=690%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5mkxU-62P","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23241,"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23239\/revisions\/23241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}