¡Presenté! Reposar en paz, Oscar. Uno de mis héroes, un santo de la gente y un hombre de Dios.

Thirty years ago today, Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated while presiding at liturgy in San Salvador.

He was a “beacon of hope” for so many and his life was cut short by violence. Here is an account given by someone who was there when it happened.

“When he finished his sermon, he walked to the middle of the altar; at that moment, the shot rang out,” says Sister Luz Isabel, who was among the congregation at a private chapel in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador.

Romero’s blood is on many hands however. As much as I have respect for Jimmy Carter, he too ignored the many pleas made by the Archbishop. Pope John Paul II had a deep mistrust of the liberation theology that was part of Romero’s defense of the poor. Sadly, this caused him to not really “hear” Romero who was in Rome not long before his death. Later, the Pope was seen praying at Romero’s grave and promoting Romero’s still unmet cause for sainthood. Canonized or not, Oscar Romero is a saint for many.

By 1980, amidst overarching violence, Romero wrote to President Jimmy Carter pleading with him to cease sending military aid because he wrote, “it is being used to repress my people.” The U.S. sent $1.5 million in aid every day for 12 years. His letter went unheeded. Two months later he would be assassinated.

¡Presenté!

“If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people.” – Archbishop Oscar Romero
Born August 15, 1917- Assassinated March 24, 1980

And from today’s Inward/Outward:

No one can quench the life that Christ has resurrected. Neither death nor all the banners of death and hatred raised against him and against his church can prevail. He is the victorious one! Just as he will thrive in an unending Easter, so we must accompany him in a Lent and a Holy Week of cross, sacrifice, and martyrdom. As he said, blessed are they who are not scandalized by his cross.


Lent, thus, is a call to celebrate our redemption in that difficult combination of cross and victory. Our people are well prepared to do so these days: all that surrounds us proclaims the cross. But those who have Christian faith and hope know that behind this calvary of El Salvador lies our Easter, our resurrection. That is the Christian people’s hope.


These words were spoken the week before Archbishop Romero’s assassination in El Salvador 30 years ago today, March 24, 1980.