Canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero

Archbishop Oscar Romero from El Salvador was shot dead while he was celebrating Mass in 1980.  Less that two years after he was elected Pope, Francis placed Archbishop Romero on the sainthood track, formally decreeing in February 2015 that the Archbishop was assassinated as a martyr for the Catholic faith.  He later received beatification in May of that same year. 

Archbishop Romero consistently spoke out against violence.  According to news report:

Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the postulator, or official promoter, of Romero's cause has called the archbishop "a martyr of the church of the Second Vatican Council." In a February 2015 talk, he said Romero "chose to live with the poor to defend them from oppression."

Theologians and experts who knew Romero or have studied his life deeply said that by setting up the prelate's canonization Francis is essentially putting forward a model for how to be a bishop. 

Julian Filochowski, the chair of the UK-based Archbishop Romero Trust, said the pope is setting up an icon that other bishops can look to in determining how to go about their ministry. 

"If you set up an icon, then that's what it is," said Filochowski, who knew Romero and helped draw global attention to the situation in El Salvador during the prelate's life. "It's someone you've got affection for, you've got admiration for, you've got pride in, and you're trying to follow and live."

"He not only talked the talk, he walked the walk," the trust director said of Romero. "That's what it's very difficult to find in bishops today. Romero stands there as icon." 

Recently, Pope Francis has decreed that Archbishop Romero was responsible for help in the healing of Cecilia Maribel Flores, who was facing near-certain death towards the end of a difficult pregnancy before praying to the late Archbishop for his intercession. 

Who is Cecilla Maribel Flores?  She is a member of the Neocatechumenal Way. She had a problem with her latest pregnancy.  After giving birth to her child, she was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome, a life-threatening condition.  Doctors had determined that she was going to die. Her husband prayed an intercession prayer to the late Archbishop Romero to help his wife.  As he prayed to the late Archbishop, 40 members of the Neocatechumenal Way community of which Celicia belonged to also prayed the exact same prayer.  Imagine that !!!  The NCW community prayed the exact same prayer.  According to news report:

Rosa Chavez recounted reports of how the husband went home to pray, opened a Bible his grandmother had given him, saw a card with Blessed Romero’s image in it, and even though he’d had an “aversion” to his grandmother’s prayers to the slain Salvadoran archbishop, he prayed for his intercession.

Though Cecilia had slipped into a coma, she awoke Sept. 10 and made a full recovery, the newspaper said.

“The case of this woman is really amazing,” Rosa Chavez told Angelus News. “I was able to spend a few hours with her family.”

He said that as the husband prayed to Romero, about 40 members of the Neocatechumenal Way community to which Celicia belonged “began to pray this same prayer.”

The doctors had no solution for her case and “the best they could do was induce her into a coma, to give her body as much rest as possible,” the cardinal said. “All of a sudden, this woman begins to react, and the doctors don’t know what’s going on. These doctors kept a very detailed record of her condition during this time - something like a thousand pages - which were sent to Rome along with all the tests they performed on her.