The late Archbishop Oscar Romero Pope Francis has given the go-ahead for martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero to be declared a saint.
The Salvadorian champion of the poor was murdered by a death squad in 1980 and he has long been considered a social justice hero within the Church.
According to a Vatican communique, Pope Francis made the decision at a meeting of cardinals called to give the final approval to several sainthood causes on Tuesday.
The Pope also approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Pope Paul VI. The Pontiff – who reigned from 1963-1978 – presided over the closing sessions of Vatican II and is widely credited with holding the Church together during the tumultuous post-conciliar era. He also authored the landmark encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968 which reiterated the Church’s traditional ban on artificial birth control.
The canonisation ceremony for Archbishop Romero is expected to take place during World Youth Day in Panana in January, 2019. Dr Romero was an outspoken critic of injustices suffered by vulnerable communities in his native El Salvador and across Latin America.
Francis has authorised a miracle attributed to Romero, and the canonisation ceremony could take place during World Youth Day in Panama, January 2019.
Archbishop Romero had long been expected to be canonised during the pontificates of both St John Paul II and Benedict XVI, however obstacles evidently remained. Francis, the first Latin American Pope, pushed these apparent obstacles to one side recognising Romero as a martyr meaning that he could be beatified in 2015.
While martyrs do not need a miracle to be declared blessed, a miracle is required for sainthood. In the case of Arxhbishop Romero his miraculous intercession is believed to have saved a pregnant woman, Cecilia Maribel Flores, who was at risk of dying in childbirth. Three other reported miracles attributed to Archbishop Romero were reportedly rejected by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.