The LuLac Edition #3925, November 7th, 2018

POPE PAUL VIth ATTAINS SAINTHOOD

Pope Paul VITH (LuLac archives)

One of the stories that was completely buried last month was the canonization of Pope Paul VIth Paul was the leader of the Catholic Church in turbulent times of the 60s and 70s. In many ways he was controversial for both Catholics and non members of that faith alike.
Pope Francis also canonized Pope Paul VI, who is credited with continuing the work begun by Pope John XXIII and bringing the church into the modern era with reforms wrought from the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
Paul VI spent his life for Christ’s Gospel, crossing new boundaries and becoming its witness in proclamation and in dialogue, a prophet of a Church turned outward, looking to those far away and taking care of the poor,
Born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini served as Pope from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms, and fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestants, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements.  Montini served in the Holy See's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954. While in the Secretariat of State, Montini and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential advisors of Pius XII, who in 1954 named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini later became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops' Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after the death of John XXIII, Montini was considered one of his most likely successors.
Upon his election to the papacy, Montini took the name Paul VI. He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which had automatically closed with the death of John XXIII. After the Council had concluded its work, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates, often walking a thin line between the conflicting expectations of various groups within Catholicism. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all fields of Church life during his pontificate exceeded similar reform programmes of his predecessors and successors. Paul VI spoke repeatedly to Marian conventions and mariological meetings, visited Marian shrines and issued three Marian encyclicals. Following his famous predecessor Saint Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI described himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes from the rich in North America and Europe in favor of the poor in the Third World.  His positions on birth control, promulgated famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae were often contested, especially in Western Europe and North America. The same opposition emerged in reaction to the political aspects of some of his teaching.
Following the standard procedures that lead to sainthood, Pope Benedict XVI declared that the late pontiff had lived a life of heroic virtue and conferred the title of Venerable upon him on 20 December 2012. Pope Francis beatified him on 19 October 2014 after the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. His liturgical feast is celebrated on the date of his birth on 26 September. Pope Francis canonized Paul VI on 14 October 2018.

OSCAR ROMERO MARTYRED AT MASS ALSO NAMED A SAINT

Oscar Romero (Photo: Time Magazine)

On that same Sunday, thirty-eight years after being gunned down in a hospital church in El Salvador, Archbishop Óscar Romero was named a saint to cheers in St. Peter’s Square.
He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture. In 1980, Romero was assassinated while officiating Mass in the chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence. Though no one was ever convicted for the crime, investigations by the UN-created Truth Commission for El Salvador concluded that the extreme right-wing politician, founder of ARENA and death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson had given the order.
During Romero's beatification, Pope Francis stated, "His ministry was distinguished by his particular attention to the most poor and marginalized."Hailed as a hero by supporters of liberation theology inspired by his work, Romero, according to his biographer, "was not interested in liberation theology" but faithfully adhered to Catholic teachings on liberation and a preferential option for the poor, desiring a social revolution based on interior reform. Up to the end of his life, his spiritual life drew much from the spirituality of Opus Dei. While seen as a social conservative at his appointment as archbishop in 1977, he was deeply affected by the murder of his friend and fellow priest Rutilio Grande a few weeks after his own appointment and subsequently developed into an outspoken social activist.
In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 March as the "International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims" in recognition of the role of Archbishop Romero in defense of human rights. Romero actively denounced violations of the human rights of the most vulnerable people and defended the principles of protecting lives, promoting human dignity and opposing all forms of violence.
In 1997, Pope John Paul II bestowed upon Romero the title of Servant of God, and a cause for beatification and canonization was opened for him. The cause stalled, but was reopened by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. He was declared a martyr by Pope Francis on 3 February 2015, paving the way for his beatification on 23 May 2015. Pope Francis canonized Romero as a saint on 14 October 2018.
His successor, the incumbent Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador, El Salvador, Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas, has asked Pope Francis to proclaim Archbishop Saint Romero a Doctor of the Church, which is an acknowledgement from the Church that his religious teachings were orthodox and had a significant impact on its philosophy and theology.
(LuLac, Newsweek, Telegraph, New York Times)