Pope Francis declares Oscar Romero a martyr, moves slain archbishop toward sainthood
c. 2015 Religion News Service
(RNS) Pope Francis on Tuesday (February 3) declared that Archbishop Oscar Romero, assassinated by a right-wing death squad in 1980 while celebrating mass in El Salvador, was a martyr for the faith, clearing the way for his beatification.
The move ends decades of fierce debate over Romero’s legacy, but it was not a complete surprise: Francis, the first Latin American pope, has often said he thought Romero was a martyr worthy of consideration for sainthood.
