Arturo Rivera Damas
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Styles of Arturo Rivera |
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| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Monsignor |
| Posthumous style | None |
Arturo Rivera y Damas (September 30, 1923 – November 26, 1994) was the ninth Bishop and fifth Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador. Msgr. Rivera's term as archbishop (1983–1994) coincided with the Salvadoran Civil War. He was the immediate successor of Archbishop Óscar Romero. During Romero's archbishopric (1977–1980), Rivera was Romero's key ally. He had been the auxiliary of Romero's long-reigning predecessor, Luis Chávez y González (1938–1977).
Rivera was born in San Esteban Catarina, El Salvador, on September 30, 1923. He was ordained a Priest of the order of Salesians of Don Bosco on September 19, 1953. "I joined the Salesians", Rivera told the National Catholic Reporter, "because I wanted to work with the poor, and back then they were the ones who were doing that."
He was appointed to his first tour as Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador on July 30, 1960. At the same time, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Legia. In light of the social ferment that began in the archdiocese in the 1970s, Rivera supported the controversial pastoral work undertaken by Father Rutilio Grande in the rural outskirts of San Salvador. According to Jesuit academic Rodolfo Cardenal, Rivera "supported the pastoral and theological innovations" being carried out by the Jesuits. However, the Church hierarchy apparently disapproved because, when Archbishop Chávez retired in 1977, they overlooked Rivera, Chávez' auxiliary, and selected the more conservative Óscar Romero as Archbishop of San Salvador, to the liberals' dismay. By that time, Rivera had been tarred as a "red bishop" because of his activism.
In September 1977, Rivera was appointed Bishop of Santiago de María—filling Óscar Romero's old post. During Romero's stormy tenure as archbishop, Rivera was often Romero's lone ally in the Salvadoran Bishops' Conference, which became divided over Romero's leadership. The bishops were split between a conservative sector, allegedly aligned to traditional institutions of power in Salvadoran society, and progressive groups influenced by the reformist doctrines of the Second Vatican Council and the Medellín Bishops Conference of 1968. Msgr. Rivera attended both influential synods.
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