AMERICA/COLOMBIA - On the 40th anniversary: CELAM commemorates the “selfless” service of the missionaries who died as martyrs in El Salvador

Bogotà (Agenzia Fides) - The President of the Latin American Bishops' Council (Celam), Archbishop of Trujillo, Mgr Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, expressed his solidarity with the Church in El Salvador on the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Maryknoll sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, the lay missionaries Jean Donovan and Sister Dorothy Kazel of the Ursulines (see Fides, 2/12/2020).
In his message addressed to all the Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Archbishop wrote: "Today we want to join the Salvadoran people by highlighting the important service that the missionaries who died as martyrs carried out for the poorest, most marginalized and most vulnerable, with a total selfless commitment to protecting the lives of the victims of the armed conflict that caused so much suffering and left whole families of the beloved village of San Arnulfo Romero in mourning, especially refugees and displaced persons".
Forty years after the martyrdom of the four missionaries, "tortured, raped and cruelly killed by the 'death squads' ... we want to remember the great legacy of an passionate Christian commitment that these missionaries leave, especially to the younger generations, by offering their lives".
Finally, referring to the final document of Aparecida, the Archbishop reaffirms his commitment "to work so that our Latin American and Caribbean Church continues to be even more companions of our poorest brothers and sisters up to the point of martyrdom". (SL ) (Agenzia Fides, 7/12/2020)

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