Thirty Years and the Murder of Archbishop Romero

Tomorrow is the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. He was sixty-two years old and had served in his position as archbishop for only three years. He was an outspoken critic of the violence and looming possibility of the outbreak of civil war in El Salvador. He spoke out on behalf of the poor of his country, and criticized the flaws inherent in both capitalism and marxism, something that Pope John Paul II was to do seven years later in his encyclical letter On Social Concern.

Romero was celebrating Mass in the chapel of a hospital for terminally ill cancer patients, when after the homily a shot rang out as he stood before the altar. He was shot with an M-16 rifle only one day after a sermon where he had called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and to stop carrying out the government's repression and violations of basic human rights.He quickly collapsed to the floor and was soon dead.

His funeral Mass was attended by some 250,000 mourners. Tragedy occurred at the funeral when a smoke bomb exploded in the plaza in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral and shots began to ring out. An estimated thirty to fifty people were killed by sniper fire.

He gave his life standing up for truth, justice and the compelling argument to place God's kingdom first about all.