El quince de agosto/August 15th
 |
| Image from ignatiansolidarity.net. Click HERE. |
An archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador who spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture, Romero was assassinated while offering mass in the chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence in 1980. He had delivered a sermon on the radio the day before in which he called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and stop carrying out the government's repressions and violations of basic human rights. 250,000 mourners attended his funeral, despite the danger. Jesuit priest John Dear called it "the largest demonstration in Salvadoran history - some say in the history of Latin America." Romero was initially considered a social conservative when he was appointed archbishop in 1977, but the assassination of his friend and fellow priest Rutilio Grande, who had called for workers' rights, several weeks after his ordination affected him deeply, and he began to speak out about the oppressive government. He also criticized the U.S. for giving military aid to this government and even wrote then President Jimmy Carter asking him to stop it (the aid continued). Romero, who was opposed to all forms of violence, continued his widely-listened to weekly radio sermons in which he listed the disappearances, tortures, and murders. In 2010, on March 24 (the 30th anniversary of Romero's assassination), Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes offered an official state apology for Romero's death, acknowledging that a government death squad had indeed assassinated him. In 2011, then President Barack Obama visited Romero's tomb on an official state visit to El Salvador. Óscar Romero is set to be canonized (officially declared a saint) on October 14, 2018 in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican. Read more about his sainthood in this L.A. Times article, HERE.
For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.
Comments
Post a Comment