Courtney McGrailThe late Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was a martyr, a panel of theologians advising the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes has ruled, unanimously declaring he was killed “in hatred for the Faith”.
As a miracle is not needed for the beatification of a martyr, the decision is an important step towards the beatification of the archbishop who was shot while celebrating Mass in March 1980. In 2007, Pope Benedict said Romero undoubtedly merited beatification, later telling San Salvador’s auxiliary bishop Gregorio Rosa Chávez that Romero’s cause, previously co-opted by some with a political agenda, needed to be “unblocked”.
In April 2013, Msgr Vincenzo Paglia, postulator for Romero’s beatification, announced that Pope Francis had unblocked Romero’s cause. During his 7 January general audience, Pope Francis quoted Romero as having said: “We must all be ready to die for our faith”, but that “to give one’s life does not only mean to be killed”.