El Salvador: Vatican mulls possible miracle by slain cleric

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

El Salvador: Vatican mulls possible miracle by slain cleric

Mar. 5, 2017 5:00 PM EST

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Roman Catholic authorities in El Salvador said Sunday that the Vatican is studying a possible miracle attributed to slain Archbishop Oscar Romero that could lead to the once-controversial cleric's canonization.

San Salvador Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas told reporters that church officials in the country are "convinced" of the miracle's authenticity. He cautioned that it could take a long time for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints to consider the matter.

Romero is known to many as "Saint Romero of the Americas." He was loved by the poor whom he defended and hated by conservatives who saw him as aligned with leftist causes ahead of El Salvador's civil war.

Romero was shot by a sniper in 1980 while celebrating Mass at a hospital chapel. He was beatified in 2015.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/27d98289bd904c16adc12d96d9067e2a

[Judi Lynn]

1. His astonishing love for the people of El Salvador above his own life was a miracle.

He lived through so many direct threats, with full knowledge they intended to kill him, never backed down, and in his last sermon begged the military of his country to put their consciences first and refuse to follow orders to murder their fellow human beings.

I have never seen such courage in my own life. You will never see it from a fascist, and you can bet your life on it.