Some 500 Salvadorans have visited Pope Francis today to thank him for beatifying the martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero, one of the most important figures in Latin American Catholicism.
The first person to greet him was this little boy, who skipped the line.
MSGR. JOSÉ LUIS ESCOBAR
President, Episcopal Conference of El Salvador
'We are a representative commission of the country of El Salvador, composed of the majority of the bishops from the episcopal conference and the senior postulator for the Cause of Monsignor Romero.'
The Pope lamented that there are still martyrs today in different parts of the world. He recalled that Romero remained martyred after his murder because 'he was defamed, slandered and even soiled by his brothers in the priesthood and in the episcopate.'
POPE FRANCIS
'Good Shepherd, filled with love of God and close to his brothers, living the dynamism of the Beatitudes, gave his life violently, while celebrating the Eucharist.'
Pope Francis says that the impact of Romero 'is still perceived today' and recalled another Salvadoran priest killed in the same period who is in the process of beatification, Jesuit Rutilio Grande.
He further requested that El Salvador 'become a country where everyone feels redeemed and brotherly, without difference.' It's what Monsignor Romero tried to do.
