‘Aspire not to have more but to be more’

Catholics across the globe greeted with joy the news that the heroic martyr, Archbishop Oscar Romero, is to be beatified this weekend. Since his murder in 1980, news of Archbishop Romero’s heroism and holiness has spread around the world. Long before his martyrdom made him a household name, Archbishop Romero had a deep connection with Ireland and Irish Catholics.

This week, in this special edition of The Irish Catholic, we explore the life of Archbishop Romero, his transformation into a voice for the voiceless, his legacy and the Irish connection.

We look at the sometimes difficult road towards beatification as competing voices vied for Dr Romero’s legacy. Crucially, we explore the role of Pope Benedict XVI in unblocking the cause for beatification and the decision of Pope Francis – the first Latin American Pope – to officially recognise Archbishop Romero’s martyrdom.

Archbishop Romero is a powerful symbol for what Pope Francis has described as his “dream of a Church transformed”. In his life and ministry, Archbishop Romero embodies the vision of a poor Church for the poor which reaches out to the existential margins.

On the evening of his election, Pope Francis said that the cardinals had gone “to the ends of the earth” in choosing him as Pope. In honouring Archbishop Romero, Pope Francis is putting this voice from the margins centre-stage.

Archbishop Romero’s challenge “aspire not to have more but to be more” is perhaps even more pressing today in the developed and jaded western world when the tendency to judge people by their material possessions is all-pervasive.

Archbishop Romero challenges each and every Christian to be part of the Church’s mission: “Each one of you has to be God’s microphone. Each one of you has to be a messenger, a prophet”.

He goes on: “The Church will always exist as long as there is someone who has been baptised…where is your baptism? You are baptised in your professions, in the fields of workers, in the market. Wherever there is someone who has been baptised, that is where the Church is.

“There is a prophet there. Let us not hide the talent that God gave us on the day of our baptism and let us truly live the beauty and responsibility of being a prophetic people,” he wrote.

It’s a message Irish Catholics need to hear and embrace.