Pope OKs beatification of archbishop Romero - update 2

(ANSA) - Vatican City, February 3 - Pope Francis on Tuesday authorised the promulgation of a decree beatifying Oscar Romero, the El Salvador archbishop killed by a murder squad in 1980. The postulator of the slain archbishop's cause, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, will hold a press briefing in the Vatican at noon Wednesday, Vatican Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
    The congregation that oversees canonization for the Catholic Church declared on January 9 that archbishop Romero was killed "in odium fidei" (in hatred of the faith), a necessary requirement for beatification as a martyr.
    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.