Oscar Romero changes the cadence of his character from the beginning of the film to its end.
In the beginning of the film, Oscar Romero is oblivious to the actions happening. He turns blind eye while his followers are being punished for soley their beliefs. For example, when the soldiers halted the bus traveling to Argentina, Oscar Romero and Father Grande went to rescue them. However, Oscar Romero had to be constrained by Lieutenant Carlo in order to leave the car and give aid to his people; he did not care about the soldier’s potential punishments to the people.
Young priests admonished him and stated Romero “fiddles while Rome burns”. Romero begins changing after the climax when Father Grande is assassinated. He notices the massacres and recognizes that the violence will only get worse without a voice to leading the way.
Romero holds a joint funeral mass for Father Grande along with the two other people killed. Romero learns to sacrifice himself for the Church and to show more interest in the people’s wellbeing. The sacraments play an imperative role in the life of the Church. The Sacrament of Baptism frees us from Original Sin and enters us as a member of the Church. The Sacrament of Communion is the first reception of the Eucharist. These sacraments, along with the five others, have the purpose of making people holy and closer to God.
They communicate grace and charity. This worship and adoration of God is seen through Romero fulfilling his Role as Bishop and as a servant leader. He uses these sacraments to engage in prayer and ritual with the people of the Church. Moreover, Romero aligns with the poor because Jesus loves everyone of us.The different visions in the film for where the Church should be in contexts of cycles of violence and vengeance include the guerillas, aristocrats, impoverished, government, and the wealthy. Romero’s vision on how the Church should react to said groups opposing the Church’s standards changes in the course of the film. He is passive at first and does not see how the country needs his salvation.
However, Romero begins to experience the same pain Jesus did and stands up for his people. The Gospel does not demand that Christians be pacifists, but it does not condone to violence. Violence is a sin and should therefore be rejected because of one should recognition that we are all made in likeness to God’s image. Romero is a humanizer who promotes his aspirations for liberty according to these visions according to the doctrine of the Church. The most prevalent part of Romero’s preaches was his statement that God’s love does not have a domain. We saw this in the film when he claimed the Church still loved Father Grande’s murderers. The position of non-violence in the Church is also portrayed when Romero denies himself of being threatened by death.
A Christian does not believe in death without resurrection and Heaven.The Church and world are portrayed in the movie having relationships. The Church is a source of light for the world. One of the Church’s mission is to free the world of oppressions. It gives a home to comfort and aid its followers.
The Church is a community. It can have a social agenda without it turning into simply the agenda of political liberals or conservatives because the Gospel generalizes Jesus’s words. He accepts diversity and acknowledges that the outside world is very complex. However, the word of the Lord is not and can be proclaimed without prejudices interfering.
