The congregation that
oversees canonization for the Catholic Church declared on Friday
that Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero was killed "in odium
fidei", a necessary requirement for beatification as a martyr,
said Avvenire, the Italian daily associated with the Catholic
Church.
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously
for the formal martyrdom of the archbishop of San Salvador, who
was a vocal opponent of El Salvador's military dictatorship and
was assassinated by a sniper on March 24, 1980, while
celebrating Mass.
The Latin American archbishop has been a candidate for
beatification since 1997 but his case had been blocked by the
Church over concerns that he had Marxist ideas.
Pope Francis, an Argentinian and the first Latin American
pope, lifted the ban on Romero's beatification last August.
Beatification, which grants the title of "Blessed", is the
third of four steps in the canonization process.
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