Memories of Romero

Simply Spirit: Amid growing consternation about my country and about my church, the words of St. Óscar Romero help me remember who I am and who I am called to be.

Declaring Pope Paul VI and martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero saints of the global Catholic Church, Pope Francis said the two prelates show that Christians are called not to take "half measures" but to strive for holiness, even sometimes at the risk of their own safety.

NCR Today: On a weekend of saints, Arthur Jones remembers a printing mishap for Paul VI that turned out rather artistic, and a bishop's poem recalls Romero, "the Latin American Passover."

Listen: Pat Marrin talks about Óscar Romero's legacy and his connection to Pope Paul VI. GSR national correspondent Dan Stockman shares the story of Catherine Kasper, founder of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, and others to be canonized Oct. 14.

We say: Remarkably, Archbishop Óscar Romero and Pope Paul VI shared a martyrdom that built the bridge that supports a single trajectory, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that will renew the church and reveal again the mystery of Jesus as the engine of history. 

Conventional wisdom has it that Archbishop Romero was dramatically transformed into a defender of the oppressed when his friend Fr. Rutilio Grande was killed. Conventional wisdom is gravely mistaken.

A close ally of the man who ordered the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Òscar Romero declined the opportunity to represent El Salvador's government at Romero's canonization at the Vatican Oct. 14.

Commentary: Martyrdom was once a very restricted idea, but today we recognize that Christian faith must influence all we do — and Archbishop Romero exemplified that.

El Salvador's Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez called the upcoming canonization of Blessed Oscar Romero a "gift from God" and is optimistic it can bring hope to his troubled homeland and to the church.

Memories of Romero: Fr. Fredis Sandoval described Archbishop Óscar Romero's upcoming canonization as a joy, a vindication and an opportunity to honor Romero's legacy by adapting his message to current issues.

Memories of Romero: When word of the murder reached him that March day in 1980, Tony Arteaga, now working at Dolores Mission in LA, rushed to where the archbishop's body had been taken.

Memories of Romero: Widely known as Blessed Óscar Romero's "unofficial photographer" for the last two years of the churchman's life, Franciscan Br. Octavio Duran, now 63, was a 21-year-old seminarian in 1977 when he first met the archbishop.

Mercy Sr. Ana María Pineda, a theologian at Santa Clara University, spoke to NCR about the friendship between Archbishop Óscar Romero and Jesuit Fr. Rutilio Grande, about Romero's spiritual life and the meaning of his pending sainthood.

Vatican City -- Pope Francis has cleared the way for Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero to be made a saint in the coming year. The Vatican announced March 7 that the pope approved the declaration of a miracle attributed to Romero's intercession.