Could politics taint slain Salvadoran Bishop Romero's path to sainthood?
Pope Francis today approved the beatification of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered in 1980. In the lead-up to March national elections, politicians from opposing parties are drumming up memories - good and bad - of Romero.
Pope Francis today approved the beatification of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered in 1980. In the lead-up to March national elections, politicians from opposing parties are drumming up memories - good and bad - of Romero.
Editor's note: Pope Francis ruled Tuesday that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was murdered by a right-wing death squad in 1980, died as a martyr and will be beatified.聽Beatification is the step before sainthood in the Catholic Church.
If Mr. Romero is to be declared a saint, a miracle will have to be attributed to him.
Romero was shot on March 24, 1980 while holding mass. No one was ever brought to justice for his killing, and soon after his death the country broke out into a 12-year civil war that killed an estimated 75,000 people.聽
The process toward sainthood stalled under previous popes who saw him as too close to Liberation Theology, a radical movement that focused on helping the poor and fighting injustice.
Tim Muth, who writes a blog on El Salvador, noted earlier this year that the process toward beatification has created some peculiar politicking in the leadup to March 1 elections: