Word: archbishops
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...humid evening in San Salvador last week, 60 worshipers gathered in the small, modern chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence for a memorial Mass. Officiating was the Archbishop of San Salvador, a small, benign-looking man with spectacles and graying hair. Quietly, he spoke for ten minutes about death and the need to dedicate life to the cause of peace and justice. Finishing his homily, he stepped to the altar and raised the chalice of Communion wine. At that moment, a lone gunman stepped up to the open door of the chapel. "We heard what sounded like an explosion...
...Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, 62, was renowned as the most outspoken archbishop among Latin America's increasingly activist clergy. From his pulpit, he regularly condemned the tyranny and terrorism that have torn tiny, impoverished El Salvador apart and brought it to the verge of civil war. A comparable concern for the poor made him a beloved figure in the barrios of the cities and among the campesinos on the huge coffee and sugar plantations. Last year he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by 23 U.S. Congressmen and 118 members of the British Parliament...
...many eulogies last week, the brutal murder at the altar was even compared with that of Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered by courtiers of King Henry II in the 12th century. "Barbaric!" exclaimed Pope John Paul II in Rome. "It is not only his archdiocese but the whole church which suffers from such iniquitous violence...
Originally regarded as a conservative in his views, Romero had spoken out more and more boldly against the repressiveness of the country's rulers since his appointment as archbishop in 1977. He bitterly assailed Dictator Carlos Humberto Romero (no relation) and the notorious activities of the National Police and ORDEN, the brutalizing paramilitary arm of Romero's and other regimes. The archbishop had ample provocation. No fewer than seven priests have been murdered in the past three years by pro-government forces, and Catholic activists were frequently among those subjected to beatings and torture...
When Romero was overthrown last fall, the archbishop initially supported the military-civilian junta that followed him. But he rapidly became disillusioned; last month he refused to support the junta's new agrarian and banking reforms because he believed they were merely a cover-up for continued repression. He also wrote to President Carter, imploring him not to send proposed U.S. military aid of, $5.7 million to the junta. "We are fed up with weapons and bullets," he explained. He urged the U.S. instead to "channel the aid to feed thousands of our people." The archbishop also...