Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
A youth takes the Eucharist from Monsignor Gregorio Rosa Chavez during a Mass giving thanks for Pope Francis' announcement that Chavez will be elevated to the rank of cardinal, at San Francisco de Asis parish church in San Salvador, El Salvador on Monday, May 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)A youth takes the Eucharist from Monsignor Gregorio Rosa Chavez during a Mass giving thanks for Pope Francis' announcement that Chavez will be elevated to the rank of cardinal, at San Francisco de Asis parish church in San Salvador, El Salvador on Monday, May 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)

Monsignor Gregorio Rosa Chavez, an auxiliary bishop who works as a parish pastor in El Salvador, was alone preparing to lead a Sunday Mass when a friend called to say he heard Pope Francis had named him as a new cardinal.

Rosa Chavez had never sought power within the church and was actually planning to retire, so the announcement came as a shock.

"You're dizzy, overwhelmed, taken aback and you don't know how to react," he said Monday of his reaction to the news.

Rosa Chavez was close to the late Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was killed by a right-wing death squad in 1980 during El Salvador's civil war and beatified in 2015. The dedication to work with the poor is something Pope Francis has long emphasized.

Rosa Chavez thanked Romero for what he called a "gift." He will become El Salvador's first among the elite who elect popes at a June 28 ceremony at the Vatican.

As an adviser to the pope he could potentially draw the church into a more formal and prominent role in addressing the gang violence gripping El Salvador in recent years. He has said that he would support a dialogue between the government and the country's powerful street gangs under the right circumstances, but so far the church has not played a formal role.

In 1977, when Romero was named archbishop, Rosa Chavez headed up his communications office. Together they confronted some of the church's most difficult moments in the run up to the country's civil war.

Rosa Chavez has a reputation as a man of the people, warm and quick to smile.

"Monsignor was always at ease being the auxiliary when he deserved to be archbishop, but his prize arrived," said parishioner Estela Henriquez leaving the cathedral after mass Sunday.

"He's a man of God, humble like Monsignor Romero," said another parishioner, Maria Castillo.

The son of a humble farmer, Rosa Chavez had never dreamed of becoming a priest, but when he was 14 his father asked a friend to take him to a seminary.

After Romero's successor as archbishop died in 1994, many expected Rosa Chavez to be given the job, but it never happened.

He was outspoken during the war about the government's abuses, publicly identifying the alleged perpetrators of the killings of six Jesuit priests in 1989. Critics labeled him a "communist priest" and he received death threats.

Rosa Chavez said communications remain a passion. He starts his day listening to Vatican radio and doesn't sleep until he has read the most important newspapers in El Salvador and the world.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Beth Cioffoletti
8 years 1 month ago

Gregorio Rosa Chavez. I will remember his name.

I would like to see Francis appoint some younger Cardinals. But having Cardinal Rosa Chavez amidst the red hats does give me hope for a more humble Church.

The latest from america

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.
For so many of us, Roger Haight marked off a breathtakingly wide horizon in which we, agreeing with him or not, could fulfill our mission for God’s people.