At 12:20pm today, in the Sala Regia at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience a group of pilgrims from El Salvador who are in Rome to thank God for the Beatification of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero.
Dear brothers in the Episcopacy,
Authorities,
Priests, Religious Men and Women, Seminarians,
brothers and sisters.
Good morning. With great joy I receive your visit today, and I welcome you here most cordially, wishing to demonstrate my affection for all people of your beloved nation. I thank His Excellency, José Luis Escobar, President of your Episcopal Conference for his words of welcome, and I thank you all for the warmth of your presence and your enthusiasm.
You bring with you to Rome your joy at the Beatification of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero, a good shepherd who was filled with love for God and always stayed close to his brothers. Living the dynamism of the Beatitudes, he gave his life in a most violent way, while celebrating the Eucharist, the supreme sacrifice of love, sealing with his own blood the gospel he proclaimed.
From the beginning of the Church's life, Christians, motivated by the words of Christ which remind us that unless a grain of wheat should fall into the ground and die, it remains a simple grain (Jn 12:24), we have always had the conviction that the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity, as Tertulian said. The blood of many Christian martyrs even today, in dramatic fashion, is still shed in the field of the world, with the certain hope that it will bear fruit in a rich harvest of holiness, justice, reconciliation and love of God ... but remember that we are not born martyrs. This is a grace that is given by the Lord in a way that concerns all the baptized. Archbishop Romero recalled: We must be willing to die for our faith, even if the Lord does not give us this honour ... Giving one's life does not only mean being assassinated; giving life - having the spirit of martyrdom - means offering it in silence, in prayer, in the honest fulfillment of one's duty; in the silence of everyday life; giving life little by little (General Audience, 7 January 2015).
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 Archbishop Romero has joined that of 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 time.
Dear Salvadoran friends, just a few weeks before the beginning of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, the example of Archbishop Romero constitutes, for his beloved nation, a stimulus toward 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 who continue their pilgrimage in El Salvador have a series of difficult tasks ahead of them, which require, as in the rest of the world, an evangelizing proclamation which will help them to work toward the promotion and advancement of a nation in search of true justice, authentic peace and reconciliation of hearts.
On this occasion, with much affection for each one of you who is present, and for all Salvadorans, I make my own the sentiments of Blessed Archbishop Romero, who with 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 (cf Archbishop Óscar Romero, Homily at Aguilares, 19 June 1977).
I also wish to add something we are forgetting. The martyrdom of Archbishop Romero was not fulfilled at the moment of his death – it was a martyrdom of witness, of prior suffering and prior persecution, up to the moment of 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 brothers in the priesthood and in the episcopate. I do not speak of rumours, 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.
Through the intercession of Our Lady of Peace, whose feast we celebrated a few days ago, I invoke the blessing of God upon you and upon all the beloved sons and daughters of this beloved land.
Thank you very much.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to pilgrims from El Salvador
Dear brothers in the Episcopacy,
Authorities,
Priests, Religious Men and Women, Seminarians,
brothers and sisters.
Good morning. With great joy I receive your visit today, and I welcome you here most cordially, wishing to demonstrate my affection for all people of your beloved nation. I thank His Excellency, José Luis Escobar, President of your Episcopal Conference for his words of welcome, and I thank you all for the warmth of your presence and your enthusiasm.
You bring with you to Rome your joy at the Beatification of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero, a good shepherd who was filled with love for God and always stayed close to his brothers. Living the dynamism of the Beatitudes, he gave his life in a most violent way, while celebrating the Eucharist, the supreme sacrifice of love, sealing with his own blood the gospel he proclaimed.
From the beginning of the Church's life, Christians, motivated by the words of Christ which remind us that unless a grain of wheat should fall into the ground and die, it remains a simple grain (Jn 12:24), we have always had the conviction that the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity, as Tertulian said. The blood of many Christian martyrs even today, in dramatic fashion, is still shed in the field of the world, with the certain hope that it will bear fruit in a rich harvest of holiness, justice, reconciliation and love of God ... but remember that we are not born martyrs. This is a grace that is given by the Lord in a way that concerns all the baptized. Archbishop Romero recalled: We must be willing to die for our faith, even if the Lord does not give us this honour ... Giving one's life does not only mean being assassinated; giving life - having the spirit of martyrdom - means offering it in silence, in prayer, in the honest fulfillment of one's duty; in the silence of everyday life; giving life little by little (General Audience, 7 January 2015).
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 Archbishop Romero has joined that of 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 time.
Dear Salvadoran friends, just a few weeks before the beginning of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, the example of Archbishop Romero constitutes, for his beloved nation, a stimulus toward 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 who continue their pilgrimage in El Salvador have a series of difficult tasks ahead of them, which require, as in the rest of the world, an evangelizing proclamation which will help them to work toward the promotion and advancement of a nation in search of true justice, authentic peace and reconciliation of hearts.
On this occasion, with much affection for each one of you who is present, and for all Salvadorans, I make my own the sentiments of Blessed Archbishop Romero, who with 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 (cf Archbishop Óscar Romero, Homily at Aguilares, 19 June 1977).
I also wish to add something we are forgetting. The martyrdom of Archbishop Romero was not fulfilled at the moment of his death – it was a martyrdom of witness, of prior suffering and prior persecution, up to the moment of 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 brothers in the priesthood and in the episcopate. I do not speak of rumours, 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.
Through the intercession of Our Lady of Peace, whose feast we celebrated a few days ago, I invoke the blessing of God upon you and upon all the beloved sons and daughters of this beloved land.
Thank you very much.
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