Editing Óscar Romero (section)

==Bishop and Archbishop==
On 25 April 1970, Romero was appointed an [[auxiliary bishop]] for the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador|Archdiocese of San Salvador]] and as the titular bishop of Tambeae.<ref name="catholic-heirarchy" /> He was consecrated on 21 June by [[Girolamo Prigione]], titular Archbishop of Lauriacum.<ref name="catholic-heirarchy" /> On 15 October 1974, he was appointed Bishop of the [[Diocese of Santiago de María]], a poor, rural region.<ref name="catholic-heirarchy" /><ref name=un/>

On 3 February 1977, Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador, assuming the position on 22 February.<ref name="catholic-heirarchy" /> While this appointment was welcomed by the government, many priests were disappointed, especially those openly supportive of [[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology. The progressive priests feared that his conservative reputation would negatively affect [[liberation theology]]'s commitment to the poor.<ref>{{Cite news|title=A day to remember Archbishop Óscar Romero|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/a-day-to-remember-archbishop-%C3%B3scar-romero-1.3186365|access-date=1 February 2021|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=McGarry|first=Patsy|title=Oscar Romero: one-time conservative who became a nation's social martyr|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/oscar-romero-one-time-conservative-who-became-a-nation-s-social-martyr-1.3657423|access-date=1 February 2021|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Mural Oscar Romero UES.jpg|thumb|upright|A mural of Óscar Romero]]

On 12 March 1977, [[Rutilio Grande]], a [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] priest and personal friend of Romero who had been creating self-reliance groups among the poor, was assassinated. His death had a profound impact on Romero, who later stated: "When I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, 'If they have killed him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.'"<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJc83fZHD8EC&pg=PA48 |title=Truth and memory: the Church and human rights in El Salvador and Guatemala |publisher=Gracewing Publishing |isbn=978-0-85244-524-2 |author1=Michael A. Hayes (Chaplain) |author2=Tombs, David |date=April 2001 }}</ref> Romero urged the government to investigate, but they ignored his request. Furthermore, the censored press remained silent.<ref name="infed.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.infed.org/thinkers/oscar_romero.htm|title=infed.org – Oscar Romero of El Salvador: informal adult education in a context of violence|work=infed.org}}</ref>

Tension was noted by the closure of schools and the lack of Catholic priests invited to participate in government. In response to Grande's murder, Romero revealed an activism that had not been evident earlier, speaking out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture.<ref name=Eaton>{{Cite thesis|last=Eaton|first=Helen-May |year=1991|url=http://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/116/ |title=The impact of the Archbishop Oscar Romero's alliance with the struggle for liberation of the Salvadoran people: A discussion of church-state relations (El Salvador)|degree=M.A.|publisher=[[Wilfrid Laurier University]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|date=April 2001|title=Truth and memory: the Church and human rights in El Salvador and Guatemala|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJc83fZHD8EC&pg=PA48|publisher=Gracewing Publishing|isbn=978-0-85244-524-2|author1=Michael A. Hayes (Chaplain)|author2=Tombs, David}}</ref>

On 15 October 1979, the [[Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador|Revolutionary Government Junta]] (JRG) came to power amidst a wave of human rights abuses by paramilitary right-wing groups and the government, in an escalation of violence that would become the [[Salvadoran Civil War]]. Romero criticized the [[United States]] for giving military aid to the new government and wrote an open letter to President [[Jimmy Carter]] in February 1980, warning that increased US military aid would "undoubtedly sharpen the injustice and the political repression inflicted on the organized people, whose struggle has often been for their most basic human rights." This letter was then sent, via telegram, from the U.S. embassy in El Salvador to Washington D.C.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB339/doc04.pdf|title=Text of Archbishop's Letter to President Carter|date=19 February 1980|website=National Security Archive|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112230835/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB339/doc04.pdf|archive-date=12 November 2019|access-date=11 December 2019}}</ref> Carter did not directly respond to the letter; instead, [[Cyrus Vance]], the [[Secretary of state (U.S. state government)|Secretary of State]], wrote a telegram back to the U.S. embassy. The telegram carried a very contradictory message, both stating that the [[United States]] will not interfere but will respond to the Revolutionary Government Junta's requests. It is unknown if Archbishop Romero received the telegram.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB339/doc05.pdf|title=Reply to Archbishop's Letter to President Carter|last=Vance|first=Cyrus|date=1 March 1980|website=The National Security Archive|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323133021/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB339/doc05.pdf|archive-date=23 March 2020|access-date=11 December 2019}}</ref>

On 11 May 1979, Romero met with [[Pope John Paul II]] and unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a Vatican condemnation of the Salvadoran military regime for committing human rights violations and its support of [[Death squads in El Salvador|death squads]], and expressed his frustration in working with clergy who cooperated with the government. He was encouraged by Pope John Paul II to maintain episcopal unity as a top priority.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Beatification of Óscar Romero |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-beatification-of-oscar-romero |magazine=The New Yorker |date=19 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=What Óscar Romero's Canonization Says About Pope Francis |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/the-martyr-and-the-pope/570835/ |work=The Atlantic |date=November 2018}}</ref><ref name="infed.org" />

As a result of his humanitarian efforts, Romero began to be noticed internationally. In February 1980, he was given an honorary doctorate by the [[Université catholique de Louvain|Catholic University of Louvain]].

===Statements on persecution of the church===
[[Image:Oscar Romero by puigreixach.jpg|thumb|upright|Óscar Romero (pastel) by J. Puig Reixach (2013)]]

Romero denounced the persecution of members of the Catholic Church who had worked on behalf of the poor:<ref name="Louvaine">Oscar Romero, ''Voice of the Voiceless: The Four Pastoral Letters and Other Statements'' (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985), pp. 177–187.</ref>

{{Blockquote|In less than three years, more than fifty priests have been attacked, threatened, calumniated. Six are already martyrs—they were murdered. Some have been tortured and others expelled [from the country]. Nuns have also been persecuted. The archdiocesan radio station and educational institutions that are Catholic or of a Christian inspiration have been attacked, threatened, intimidated, even bombed. Several parish communities have been raided. If all this has happened to persons who are the most evident representatives of the Church, you can guess what has happened to ordinary Christians, to the campesinos, catechists, lay ministers, and to the ecclesial base communities. There have been threats, arrests, tortures, murders, numbering in the hundreds and thousands....

But it is important to note why [the Church] has been persecuted. Not any and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every institution has been attacked. That part of the church has been attacked and persecuted that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people's defense. Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of the church: the poor.|Óscar Romero|Speech at the [[Université catholique de Louvain]], [[Belgium]], 2 February 1980.}}

===Popular radio sermons===
[[File:O.Romero 1979 autographed photo.jpg|thumb|left|Romero in 1979.]]

By the time of his death, Romero had gained an enormous following among Salvadorans. He did this largely through broadcasting his weekly sermons across El Salvador<ref name="Peadar Kirby 1980">Peadar Kirby, 'A Thoroughgoing Reformer', 26 March 1980, ''The Irish Times''</ref> on the church's station, YSAX, "except when it was bombed off the air."<ref name="diary" /> In these sermons, he listed disappearances, tortures, murders, and much more each Sunday.<ref name="Peadar Kirby 1980"/> This was followed by an hour-long speech on the radio the following day. On the importance of these broadcasts, one writer noted that "the archbishop's Sunday sermon was the main source in El Salvador about what was happening. It was estimated to have the largest listenership of any programme in the country."<ref name="Peadar Kirby 1980"/> According to listener surveys, 73% of the rural population and 47% of the urban listened regularly.<ref name="diary">{{cite web|url=http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/index.php?nuc=content&id=60|title=A Shepherd's Diary, Foreword.|access-date=5 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308030706/http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/index.php?nuc=content&id=60|archive-date=8 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Similarly, his diocesan weekly paper ''Orientación'' carried lists of cases of torture and repression every week.<ref name="Peadar Kirby 1980"/>