The Revolutionary Gospel:The Martydom of Archbishop Oscar Romero

[Judi Lynn]

February 10, 2015
The Revolutionary Gospel

The Martydom of Archbishop Oscar Romero

by MICHAEL K. SMITH

Nowadays an authentic Christian conversion must lead to an unmasking of the social mechanisms that turn the worker and the peasant into marginalized persons. Why do the rural poor become part of society only in the coffee-and-cotton-picking seasons?”

—– Archbishop Oscar Romero

“In concrete terms capitalism is in fact what is most unjust and unchristian about our own society.”

—–Archbishop Oscar Romero

The dammed blood burst, a scarlet torrent cascaded through his skull, down into his mouth, then gushed onto his purple-and-white vestments as he slumped to the floor at the foot of the large crucifix behind the altar. Opening his arms to offer the Eucharist, Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot in the heart, the most forgiving heart in San Salvador. The unforgiving bullet scattered fragments through his chest, triggering massive internal hemorrhage.

While friends dashed to his side and flipped him on his back, the killer, escorted to the mass by two police patrols, escaped into the street. Then a photographer shot Romero again with flashes.

Unconscious, gasping, lifeblood ebbing away, Romero was carried from the chapel to a small truck and driven to the hospital, where he was laid out on a table in the emergency room. A nurse probed for a vein in his arm, but all had collapsed.

He strangled to death in his own blood.

Stunned by the news blaring from every radio, Salvadoreans poured into the streets as twilight fell. Sadly chimed the church bells of the Cathedral of San Martin, quickly followed by those of Palmar and San Francisco. In Santa Ana all the bells rang in unison, while back in San Salvador enormous crowds wandered the streets aimlessly, staring in disbelief.

Mourners swarmed into the capital for days, standing in line for hours to catch a glimpse of the man whose belief in their humanity cost him his life. Dozens of foreign bishops and church dignitaries flew in to pay their last respects.

Six days after the assassination, one hundred thousand people jammed the cathedral square for the funeral. A sudden burst of machine-gun fire from the second floor of the National Palace interrupted the proceedings. Bullets ripped into the grieving crowd, killing forty people. The Salvadorean government issued a press release denying troops were in the area.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/10/the-martydom-of-archbishop-oscar-romero/

[whathehell]

1. There is a film "Romero"..

The late Raul Julia starred as the archbishop..A very good man, being

considered for canonization as a saint in the RC church, I understand.

[MinM]

2. wapo: beatification of slain archbishop reopens old wounds

Washington Post @washingtonpost · In El Salvador, beatification of slain archbishop reopens old wounds http://wapo.st/1KcrGHv

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110840890