Blessed Óscar Romero

On 24 March 1980, Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador was gunned down while celebrating Mass.

While it is generally recognized (and admitted by the government) that the assassins were members of a death squad sent by the government of El Salvador, to this day no one has been prosecuted for the crime.

And what had the archbishop done to raise the ire of the Salvadoran government?

The day before he had given a homily calling for Salvadoran soldiers to obey God’s commandments and to stop carrying out the government’s violations of human rights and assassination of political opponents:

The law of God which says thou shalt not kill must come before any human order to kill. It is high time you recovered your conscience. I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression.

Today, the martyr was beatified, raised to the altars as Blessed Óscar Romero.

O God,
who were pleased to give light to your Church
by adorning blessed Óscar Romero
with the victory of martyrdom,
graciously grant
that, as he imitated the Lord’s Passion,
so we may, by following in his footsteps,
be worthy to attain eternal joys.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.