Cardinal Emeritus Gregorio Rosa Chávez, auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, acknowledged that “many do not feel free in El Salvador” and urged Catholics to prepare and form, warning that they are coming “very difficult times where there is no one to defend us at the official level and everything will be possible at the level of arbitrariness.”
During His homily In the ninth parties of the Divine Savior of the World, on August 4, he regretted that “the world we want is now denied” and pointed out that this ideal world implies living democracy. “That involves dialogue, it is respecting human dignity, it implies tolerance, respect for human rights, means being a free people,” he said.
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The challenge of the Catholic Church
The purple 82 -year -old pointed out that El Salvador faces “such a difficult time in our history, already without control of the life of the people, rather than those who are guiding the country.” Faced with this reality, he questioned: “Where there is no one to defend us, what does the Church have to do?”
In that context, he highlighted the need to “have an ear attentive to the word and another ear attached to the people.” “We learned from our martyrs: the word and people of God.”
The Salvadoran martyrs were lay and priests killed during the Civil War (1980-1992) for their defense of human rights and pastoral work among the poor, in a context of repression and violence. Among them, San Oscar Romero, close friend of Cardinal Rosa Chávez.
Despite the adversities, he encouraged not to “throw in the towel” and urged not to give up or be dragged by a current that, he said, “impoverishes us and prevents being builders of the world that God wants for us.”
On the mission of the priests, Cardinal Rosa Chávez explained that his role is to “feed the people first the bread of the word of God without manipulating it, without instrumentalizing it, without giving an gospel to the letter, which I like more (…) the gospel is as it is and the gospel is Christ himself.”
“Assuming responsibilities, preparing, training. Very difficult times await us where there is no one to defend us officially, everything will be possible at the level of arbitrariness. We are not going to stay with the cross steps, our faith in Christ will lead us to give an answer from faith,” he warned.
The bishops of El Salvador have been critical of some decisions of the government of President Nayib Bukele, such as the use of the “Great International Prison”, the constitutional reform that allows the presidential re -election and the Mining Law.
A call to young people
When talking about youth, he acknowledged that in society many “we are atomized, many are alienated, numb, anesthetized; so the future is not built.”
Therefore, he invited young Salvadorans to be signs of hope “being light of the world and salt from earth, but being consistent with what they say they believe. Jesus leads them to be other Christs, in their youth they can change the world.”
For the shepherds, he said that the challenge is “accompanying them, walking with them, indicating a path especially with our testimony.”
Finally, although the panorama is complicated, Cardinal Rosa Chávez said that this moment is “hope and also commitment is not to be complained about is to assume responsibilities knowing that we are not alone that God is with us.”
Diego López Colín
I am a graduate of journalism at the Carlos Septién García school with experience of religious institutional communication. Since 2016 I write for digital media and, since 2018, I report the most important news about the Catholic event in Mexico for the Ewtn news channel. ACI Press correspondent in Mexico since 2023.