Saint Oscar Romero

Born in 1917 in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador, Oscar Romero was ordained to the priesthood in 1942. After serving as a parish priest for over 20 years, he became Secretary to the Bishops’ Conference of El Salvador in 1966. He edited the newspaper Orientación, which strongly defended the Church’s orthodox teachings. He was a strong advocate of the spiritual charism of Opus Dei, and his spiritual director was an Opus Dei priest. Oscar Romero was appointed Bishop of Santiago de Maria in 1974 and became Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977. As Archbishop, he spoke out consistently against social injustice, assassinations and torture perpetrated by the country’s military regime and paramilitary death squads. In his weekly sermons, broadcast by the Church’s radio station, he listed and denounced disappearances, murders and other human rights abuses.

In a sermon in March 1980, Archbishop Romero called on Salvadorian soldiers to refuse to carry out extra-judicial killings ordered by the junta. The following day, he was shot dead by an unknown assassin while celebrating Mass. Oscar Romero was beatified in 2015 and canonised by Pope Francis in 2018. Cardinal Gerhard Müller has written: “Oscar Romero is a true martyr for Christ. He proclaimed God’s love and was prepared, like any good shepherd, to give his life for his sheep.” His feast day is celebrated on 24 March.