The bishops of El Salvador were able to personally present to the pope their invitation to canonize Óscar Romero, who was murdered in 1980 and beatified in 2015.
MGSR. JOSÉ LUIS ESCOBAR
President, Episcopal Conference El Salvador
'The pope has listened to us, he has listened to us with great joy, interest and enthusiasm. However, he has not given us a date and we understand it because it is a process, and surely he is waiting for what the Congregation for the Causes of Saints says.'
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints is studying the alleged miracle that could lead to the canonization. Everything depends on the time it takes to thoroughly analyze the case to approve it.
The bishops also asked the pope to push the beatification of another priest who was martyred: Rutilio Grande. He was murdered three years before Óscar Romero, and the event profoundly marked the then-archbishop of San Salvador.
The other inevitable issue that they discussed with the pope was that of violence in the country caused by poverty.
MSGR. JOSÉ LUIS ESCOBAR
President, Episcopal Conference El Salvador
'Certainly violence has always accompanied us. Since the signing of the peace agreements 25 years ago, we have been dealing with a new violence that is not so different from the previous one, because they are from the same causes that generated the conflict. There are a few people who have a lot and many people who have little to nothing.'
El Salvador is, along with Honduras, one of the most violent countries in the world that is not at war. In 2015 the homicide rate exceeded 100 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
