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MURDERED ARCHBISHOP OSCAR Romero and the reformist Pope Paul VI are both to be made into saints, the Vatican said today.
Pope Francis signed decrees giving the go-ahead for the honours on the basis of miracles attributed to each candidate, the Holy See said in a statement.
The Pope put Paul VI on the path to sainthood by beatifying him in October 2014, while Oscar Romero was likewise elevated to the status of “blessed” in May 2015.
Romero, murdered in 1980, was beatified in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador in Central America, in front of 200,000 worshippers.
Cardinal Angelo Amato read out a letter from the pope proclaiming to the frenzied crowd that Romero “henceforth is called blessed.”
Then US president Barack Obama welcomed the beatification, calling Romero “a wise pastor and a courageous man who persevered in the face of opposition from extremes on both sides”.
Romero’s assassination occurred at the outset of El Salvador’s civil war and propelled the country deeper into a brutal conflict that raged until 1992.
An estimated 75,000 people died between 1980 and 1992 in El Salvador’s civil war as the US-backed government and military killed and tortured its own population.
No one was ever convicted of Romero’s killing, but a UN-sponsored truth commission later concluded it was carried out by a right-wing death squad under the orders of a former army officer who died the year the war ended.
Romero was a popular figure in Ireland and the late former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey represented the Irish Catholic Church at Romero’s funeral in San Salvador.
President Michael D Higgins also visited the tomb of murdered Catholic archbishop Oscar Romero on the final day of his visit to El Salvador.
The movement to make Romero a saint was long resisted by conservative Catholics and the Salvadoran right, who saw veiled Marxism in his sermons eulogising the poor and radio broadcasts condemning government repression.
The petition languished for years in the Vatican, finally moving forward in February 2015 when Pope Francis named Romero a martyr of the Church — less than a year after his own election to the papacy.
Reformist
Pope Paul VI’s sainthood is on foot of his leadership of the Catholic Church in the 1960s.
Paul VI completed the sweeping reforms of the Second Vatican Council, or ‘Vatican II’, which revolutionised the relationship between Catholic believers and priests and opened the Church to dialogue with other religions.
Mass, historically celebrated in Latin, was translated into local languages and priests addressed their congregations face-on instead of facing the altar.
Paul VI is credited with being one of Pope Francis’ role models, a humble man to whom the Argentine pope frequently refers in his speeches. At the beatification mass, Francis had hailed him as a “brave Christian”.
Giovanni Battista Montini, a soft-spoken cardinal from northern Italy, was elected pope in 1963, adopting the name Paul VI. He was pope for 15 tumultuous years, which saw many believers and priests leave the Church as social rebellions swept across the West.
His papacy was marked by growing secularisation and social liberation, and while the polarised politics of the Cold War did little to ease his task he was also hampered by a reputation for being overly cautious.
He reaffirmed the Church’s ban on artificial contraception — despite the fact that his own birth control commission, set up to advise the Vatican, voted overwhelming to lift the prohibition.
The decision enraged many Catholics at a time when believers were embracing sexual freedom and women were demanding the right to use the birth control pill.
© – AFP 2018 with reporting by Rónán Duffy
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How much of these monies have been sourced by the Catholic church? Surely an old convent or two should be sold to somewhat make amends. Shatter has requested such funding, yet it appears not a penny has been shared. Why is the tax-payer paying for the sins of the Catholic church?
Because Bertie and his cronies were such good Catholics.
Granted Joseph.
But as my mother says
The rest of the feckers in Leinster house over the year had a mouth on them as well and they said feck all about this travesty.
Imagine some of today’s fine leaders used to drive by slave camps everyday on their way into the Dail and think nothing wrong of it.
The Magdelane Laundry closed in 1996.
The “last” Magdelane Laundry closed in 1996.
Anyway.
As recent events have illustrated, Ireland’s fine leaders think nothing of abusing/enslaving their people in one way or another.
Money will never replace what the establishment took from them.
Pittance
I am not sure if there is anything I hate more than the catholic church for what it did to those children. Not only is what happened devastating, but those who covered it up and facilitated its continuance for so long are as bad as the abusers themselves. Those that then choose to recognise and support such an institution today really make me wonder what is wrong with them. Why would/could anybody support an organisation that did this to innocent children!? What is wrong with people? You people really do make me feel ill.
I concur with everything you say John Q . The disconcerting thing is that a catholic task force of laypeople and clergy has been set up to
Spread disinformation and lies about the extent of the abuse. Their mantra is to Deny ! Deny ! Deny ! At all costs any accusations against the church irrespective of the truth or source of the information. On the flip side there seems to be other groups of clergy mainly in the states who have set up support groups for clergy whistle blowers. http://www.catholicwhistleblowers.com
Didn’t these women have families too?
We’re all angry here at the state paying for church sins which is fair enough but the irish press also know as the journal gives the Church sinners a constant platform to spout their moral shite through their two spin offs, the immigrant council of ireland and the migrant council who in turn produced the mens development network. So for every one story such as the horrors that these woman suffered the irish press will act as an online broadsheet to spread the good shepherds words
Actually, you are full of shite!
The RCC should be made to pay? Look at the wealth that it has, The RCC can afford to pay..
I’m sickened and apaulled by what went on and the cover up of these poor children and Adults.
@Trevor Beacom, What are you on about?! The immigrant council of ireland and The migrant council have nothing to do with the good sheperd magdeline laundry..?
You are entitled to your opinion about those two councils but they serve a genuine and legitimate purpose; just because you disagree with that purpose why must you spread your shite talk in unrelated articles?
And your name is?
My name is irrelevant. Why do you ask, will knowing my name help you to explain your previous comment?
You know only too well the links between the groups. Pretending that they dont exist is silly. Every eci and mci article which appear here I will publish proof of the links
Still no one is asking why were the London Women’s Group Given €250,000 at the Commissioning of the Quirke Report!
Was this to seek endorsement of the Macalese Report and ensure Compliance with the Quirke findings on Redress?
Shatter certainly compromised this situation by doing this!
My mother spent a couple of years in the Magdalene Laundry in Limerick as well as her entire childhood in the Irish state workhouses and they are telling her that they cannot find her records.
Wait for the vaccine test programmes that were run in these places to come into the spotlight. Humam medical trails without informed consent. That is going to cost.
Sadly the Commission into Child Abuse was stopped from investigating this by the Welcome Trust now part of GSK. There will be no report or Compensation on this.
The Government commissioned a Report that washed the Religious Whiter than a Magdalene Laundry Sheet!
They got the Report they paid for absolving the Nuns and phasing the burden squarely on the State and Tax Payer AGAIN!
have your say