Carlos de Dios Murias

After his ordination, Father Carlos de Dios Murias exercised his pastoral ministry in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of the Buenos Aires suburbs, notably in José León Suárez and Moreno, dedicating himself particularly to the youth and the most destitute. Driven by a deep desire for social justice and fidelity to the orientations of the Second Vatican Council, he requested several times to his superiors to be sent to the poor diocese of La Rioja to support the pastoral action of Bishop Angelelli. In 1975, his wish was granted: he was sent to Chamical, in the province of La Rioja, to prepare for the foundation of a community of Conventual Franciscans. Appointed vicar of the parish of the Savior (El Salvador) in May 1976, he collaborated closely with the parish priest, Father Gabriel Longueville, a French Fidei donum missionary priest. Together, they actively committed themselves to the poor peasants (campesinos), denouncing the injustices committed by large landowners and promoting human dignity. This evangelical commitment quickly drew the hostility of military authorities and local elites, in the context of the military dictatorship established in March 1976.

The climate of repression of the "Dirty War" in Argentina made the ministry of the two priests extremely dangerous. Despite death threats and repeated intimidation from the military at the Chamical air base, Father Carlos refused to leave his parishioners. Conscious of the danger, he declared: "It is better to die young having done something, than to die old having done nothing." On the evening of Sunday, July 18, 1976, while Father Carlos and Father Gabriel Longueville were dining with the Sisters of Saint Joseph in Chamical, men in civilian clothes presenting themselves as federal police came to get Father Carlos under the pretext of having him testify on behalf of detainees. Refusing to let his vicar leave alone, Father Gabriel decided to accompany him. The two priests were taken to the Chamical air base, where they were savagely tortured before being shot. Their bullet-riddled bodies, with eyes bandaged, were found on July 20, 1976, by a railway worker, Julio Carabajal, in a vacant lot called Bajo de Lucas, a few kilometers from Chamical. During their funeral, Bishop Angelelli publicly described them as "martyrs," before being murdered himself a few weeks later, on August 4, 1976.

The cause for the beatification of Carlos de Dios Murias, Gabriel Longueville, and the layman Wenceslao Pedernera (assassinated on July 25, 1976) was officially opened by the Diocese of La Rioja on May 31, 2011, with the approval of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, then presided over by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis). The cause of Bishop Angelelli was joined to it subsequently. On June 8, 2018, Pope Francis signed the decree recognizing the martyrdom of the four servants of God, killed "in hatred of the faith" (in odium fidei). The beatification ceremony was celebrated on April 27, 2019, at the municipal park of La Rioja by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and special envoy of the Pope, in the presence of tens of thousands of the faithful.

The spirituality of Blessed Carlos de Dios Murias is rooted in the Franciscan charism of poverty, fraternity, and service to the least among us, combined with the missionary and social impetus of the Second Vatican Council and the Medellín Conference. His testimony is that of a Church close to the sufferings of the people and ready to give its life for justice and the truth of the Gospel. Today, the place where the bodies of the two priests were found houses the "Gruta de los Mártires" (the Grotto of the Martyrs), which has become an important site of national pilgrimage. In Argentina, Carlos de Dios Murias is venerated as a model of commitment to social justice and pastoral fidelity unto the supreme gift of self.