Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, murdered while serving mass in the 1980's, has advanced toward sainthood in the Roman Catholic church.
Romero has recently been declared a "martyr", which means that he only needs one more miracle to qualify. Normally, two miracles are needed, but the category of "martyr" counts for one of them.
The ruling by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was unanimous. Reports RNS:
Romero’s cause was started nearly two decades ago when St. John Paul II gave him the title of Servant of God in 1997. But his case never advanced amid lingering Vatican suspicion of Liberation Theology, an economically progressive approach to Catholicism that flourished under Romero and was suppressed by both John Paul and Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis, the first pontiff elected from Latin America, reopened Romero’s cause soon after his 2013 election, and is said to be supportive of Romero’s sainthood. Last year, the current archbishop of El Salvador, Jose Luis Escobar Alas, and three other bishops met with the pope and said all Salvadoran bishops support Romero’s canonization.
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