Thousands of Salvadorans marched Tuesday in memory of slain archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated 35 years ago during the country’s civil war and will be beatified in May. An outspoken critic of social injustice, Romero was shot through the heart by a sniper while celebrating mass, a day after exhorting El Salvador’s soldiers to stop killing civilians. The ensuing movement to make him a saint long divided both El Salvador and the Catholic Church. It finally moved forward last month when Pope Francis, who has also sought to champion the poor, named him a martyr for the Church, clearing the way for his beatification on May 23 — the step before sainthood.
