THE
P RTAL
October 2018
Page 9
Catholic Social Teaching
Oscar Romero
Fr Ashley Beck
T his series
for T he P ortal is about Catholic Social Teaching. In any theological tradition, we are
given inspiration from the example and teachings of particular people. This month one such figure in
the Christian tradition of teaching about social justice is being canonised in Rome by the Holy Father –
Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador. He has become an inspiration not only to Catholics but to other
Christians: some years ago a statue of him was erected on the outside wall of Westminster Abbey and I think
he appears in the liturgical calendar of the Church of England.
Oscar Romero was born just over a hundred years
ago. El Salvador was and is still one of the poorest
countries in the world; most of the country’s wealth is
held by a tiny proportion of the population, and most
of the population live in dire poverty. Although in the
village where Romero was born his father ran the local
post office, the family were still hard up; but he showed
talent at school and the local diocese arranged for him
to go to seminary to train for the priesthood, first in his
home country and then in Rome during the Second
World War. On his return to El Salvador as a young
and talented priest, he worked in broadcasting as well
as pastoral ministry, and then became secretary of the
Bishops’ Conference. In 1970 he became an Auxiliary
Bishop in the capital city and from 1974 bishop of a
small rural diocese; he became Archbishop of San
Salvador at the beginning of 1977.
By the late 1960s the Church in El Salvador, as in
other places, was divided. On the one hand were
those who had a very other-worldly and spiritualised
theology and who took no account of the sufferings
of so many Catholics. Catholics were simply meant
to come to Mass and accept their lot in the world,
hoping for a better life in heaven. If the soldiers of the
government, or death squads organised by right wing
political parties kidnapped you, tortured or killed you
- then that was simply something you should put up
with. On the other hand were those who, inspired by
the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, and by
the ground-breaking meeting of the Conference of
Latin American and Caribbean bishops (CELAM) in
1968 at Medellín in Columbia, which began the whole
tradition of Liberation Theology, realised that the
Church had to identify with the struggle of the poor
and listen to them.
movement, in many ways thanks to the teaching of one
of our lecturers, Fr Len Pepper. The career of Oscar
Romero is a fascinating narrative in terms of these
divisions in the Church. For we know that when he
first became a bishop in the early 70s he was perceived
to be a ‘conservative’ figure; and indeed when he
became Archbishop in 1977 the political elite in San
Salvador and their allies in the Church welcomed his
appointment.
Soon after taking office Romero encountered the
reality of the hatred towards the Church from the
regime in his country and death squads determined
to silence those trying to defend the rights of the poor.
A well-known Jesuit priest whom he knew well, with
others from his parish, was murdered. From now on
Romero constantly tried to call the State to account
for actions against poor communities and those
who supported them. A key event also was the case
of a village which was occupied for some weeks by
security services, and in this time the soldiers not only
kidnapped and killed innocent people, but also fired
their machine guns at the tabernacle in the church and
desecrated the Blessed Sacrament. When they left, the
archbishop came to the village and celebrated a Mass
of reparation, in which he linked the deaths of his
people to the attacks on Our Lord.
As is well known, in March 1980, following growing
tensions between Romero and the government, he was
shot (just after his homily) while saying Mass in the
hospital chapel near where he lived.
We now see Oscar Romero not only as a martyr
for Christian teaching but as a sign of unity for the
Church. During his life, and indeed in the immediate
aftermath of his death, he was a divisive and contested
When I was training for the Anglican priesthood at figure. We know that as archbishop he had a very bad
St Stephen’s House (not long after Romero’s death), I relationship with most of his fellow bishops, who were
recall how inspiring it was to encounter this theological
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