POPE FRANCIS CANONIZES SAINT OSCAR ROMERO AND POPE SAINT POPE VI ALONG WITH FIVE OTHERS THIS SUNDAY

Pope Francis today canonized both the martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero and Pope Paul VI, who reigned over one of the church’s most turbulent eras, following the conclusion of Vatican Council II.

In a ceremony before tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, Francis declared the two men Saints along with five other lesser-known people who were born in Italy, Germany and Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Both Romero, who was shot by a rightwing death squad while saying mass in 1980, and Paul, who guided the church through the conclusion of the modernising 1962-65 second Vatican council, were controversial figures both within and outside the church. Both had a lasting influence on the current pontiff, Francis, Latin America’s first pope.

In his homily, Francis called Paul “a prophet of an extroverted church” who opened it up to the world. He praised Romero for disregarding his own life “to be close to the poor and to his people”.

Saint Romero, who had often denounced repression and poverty in his homilies, was shot dead on 24 March 1980, in a hospital chapel in San Salvador.  His martyrdom was one of the most shocking in the long conflict between a series of US-backed governments and leftist rebels in which thousands were killed by rightwing and military death squads.

Pope Saint Paul VI, a shy man, guided the Church through the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council.  He was elected Supreme Pontiff in 1963 and died in 1978.

Pope Francis often quotes Pope Saint Paul VI, showing that he is committed to the reforms of the Council, which allowed the Mass to be said in local languages instead of Latin, declared respect for other religions and launched a landmark reconciliation with the Jewish people.

Paul is the third pope made a saint by Francis since his election in 2013. The others are  Pope Saint John XXIII, who died in 1963, and Pope Saint John Paul II, who died in 2005.

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On a personal note, I often assisted Pope Saint Paul VI at the altar as either an Acolyte or Transitional Deacon during my seminary days in Rome.  While I am sure he never remembered my name, he was familiar with my face and would smile his greeting every time I served in the Pauline Chapel or at the Pontifical Altar or Saint Peter's Basilica.

While publicly Pope Paul VI seemed stoic and serious, privately he had an impish personality, a quick wit and affable personality.

My memories of Pope Paul VI remain vivid and very fond ones to this day.

In my life, I have had the rare privilege of having had private associations with two Saints of the Church, Pope Saint John Paul II and now Pope Saint Paul VI.  

I am certain their virtue far surpasses my human weaknesses and frailties, yet I hope one day to see them again in the Blessedness of Heaven which their canonizations assures us all they are enjoying in the company of Our Beloved Lord.