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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
Pope Francis wants a reform of the church and he sees Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador as a model bishop, one who smells like his sheep and who was fully committed to a poor church for the poor. Pope Francis and Archbishop Romero agree that the basis for church reform must be the gospel. As Jesus did not preach himself but the kingdom of God, the church must be at the service of the kingdom, she is the sacrament of the kingdom. The first addressees of the good news of the kingdom of God were the poor, so there is an intrinsic relationship between the church and the poor. Church reform means that the church becomes more like Jesus Christ serving the poor, the needy and the marginalized.
There is an intrinsic relationship between church reform and the signs of the times. The Second Vatican Council established a new relationship between the church and the world. Of key importance for this are the signs of the times as signs of the presence and the plans of God in history.
Archbishop Romero's deepest and most creative spiritual and theological insight is his association of the passion of the Salvadoran people with the suffering servant of God and the crucified Christ. He spoke of a crucified people.
1 Cf. I. Ellacuría, Conversión de la Iglesia el Reino de Dios. Para anunciarlo y realizarlo en la historia, Santander 1984.
2 Cf. R. Cardenal, Vida, pasión y muerte del jesuita Rutilio Grande, San Salvador 2016.
3 Mons. A. Rivera y Damas, Presentación, in: J. Delgado, Óscar A. Romero. Biografía, San Salvador 1990, p.3.
4 We quote the homilies of Mons. Romero from the six volumes of the critical edition of UCA Editores, San Salvador 2005. The roman numerals indicate the volume followed by the page numbers.
5 Cartas Pastorales y Discursos de Monseñor Oscar A. Romero, San Salvador 2007, p.43.
6 Cf. M. Cavada Diez, Predicación y profecía. Análisis de las homilías de Monseñor Romero, en Revista Latinoamericana de Teología 34 (1995) pp.3‐36.
7 Cartas Pastorales y Discursos, p.184.
8 Ibid., p.42.
9 Ibid., p.47.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid., p.52.
13 Ibid., p.61.
14 Ibid., p.62.
15 Evangelii Gaudium 198.
16 Cf. M. Zechmeister, Mons. Romero: mártir por la dignidad humana, in: Revista Latinoamericana de Teología 97 (2016) pp.55‐64.
17 Evangelii Gaudium 7.
18 Mons. Romero A. Romero, Su diario, San Salvador 2000, p.86s.
19 Cartas Pastorales y Discursos, p.183.
20 Address of Pope Francis to the Astalli Centre: https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2013/september/documents/papa-francesco_20130910_centro-astalli.html.
21 Ibid.
22 Evangelii Gaudium 58.
23 Address to the Astalli Centre.
24 Evangelii Gaudium 97.
25 Cartas Pastorales y Discursos, p.192.
26 Ibid., 182.
27 Interview with Pope Francis by Antonio Spadaro: https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2013/september/documents/papa-francesco_20130921_intervista-spadaro.html.
28 Cf. M. Maier, “Teología del pueblo crucificado. En el 70 aniversario de Jon Sobrino”, in Revista Latinoamericana de Teología 75 (2008) pp.279‐294.
29 Cartas Pastorales y Discursos, p.186.
30 Ibid., p. 114s.
