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July 16, 2020

Ex-Salvadoran officer says witnesses lied in his trial for Jesuits' murders

Salvadoran Col. Inocente Orlando Montano is pictured during a 2000 news conference denying involvement in the 1989 deaths of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.

MEXICO CITY -- Inocente Orlando Montano, the former Salvadoran army colonel accused of participating in "the decision, design or execution of the killings" of six Jesuits in 1989, testified in his Spanish trial that no order was ever given to eliminate the priests.

Published in International
July 9, 2020

'High command' gave order to kill Salvadoran Jesuits in '89

Salvadoran Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce, right, and his colleagues, Colonels Francisco Elena Fuentes, left, and Inocente Orlando Montano, center, are pictured in a 2000 photo during a news conference denying involvement in the 1989 deaths of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.

MEXICO CITY -- A former Salvadoran army officer has testified that the "high command" gave orders to eliminate Jesuits priests during the country's civil war. He also said the Central American country's president would have known of the crimes to be committed and did not intervene.

Published in International
February 11, 2020

Salvadoran cardinal calls for prudence, patience amid political turmoil

Soldiers patrol the surroundings of El Salvador's national congress as supporters of President Nayib Bukele protest outside the building to push for the approval of funds for a government security plan Feb. 9, 2020.

MEXICO CITY -- A Salvador cardinal urged "prudence" from the politicians in the Central American country as the president pushed congress to approve a package of security spending.

Published in International
June 14, 2019

Salvadoran authorities arrest sacristan as suspect in priest killing

Priests carry the casket of Father Cecilio Perez Cruz during his funeral procession in Sonzacate, El Salvador, May 20, 2019. Parishioners found Father Perez dead in his residence in Juayua early May 18 with a note nearby that said he had not paid "rent," a euphemism for extortion money.

WASHINGTON -- A 34-year-old sacristan is in the custody of Salvadoran authorities in connection with the May killing of a Salvadoran priest.

Published in International
March 19, 2019

Liberation theology co-founder supports declaring St. Romero 'doctor of the church'

Then-Archbishop Oscar Romero receives a sack of beans from parishioners following Mass outside of a church in San Antonio Los Ranchos in Chalatenango, El Salvador, in 1979. Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez, considered by many as the father of liberation theology, said he supports an effort to declare now-St. Oscar Romero a doctor of the Catholic Church.
WASHINGTON – One of the founders of liberation theology in Latin America said he supports an effort to declare St. Oscar Romero a doctor of the Catholic Church.
Published in Faith
November 30, 2018

Salvadoran human rights office pushes courts to prosecute St. Oscar Romero assassin

People hold posters showing the image of St. Oscar Romero during a 2014 protest in San Salvador, El Salvador. The protest was against the decision of the mayor to name a street after deceased Army Maj. Roberto D'Aubuisson, allegedly the mastermind of the 1980 killing of St. Romero.
WAAHINGTON – The human rights office for the Archdiocese of San Salvador is taking the country's judicial system to task, urging the prompt prosecution of those responsible in the assassination of St. Oscar Arnulfo Romero, calling for an end to "creative" excuses for not doing so.
Published in International
October 24, 2018

Judge orders arrest of longtime suspect in St. Romero's 1980 assassination

Then-Archbishop Oscar Romero is pictured in an undated photo in San Salvador, El Salvador.
WASHINGTON – Days after the Catholic Church declared Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero a saint, a judge in El Salvador issued a capture order for a former military captain suspected of killing the religious leader in 1980 as he celebrated Mass.
Published in International
October 15, 2018

Salvadoran archbishop asks Pope to make Romero first Latin American 'doctor of the church'

A man holding a portrait of St. Oscar Romero prays during an Oct. 13 Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua.
VATICAN – Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador asked Pope Francis to proclaim St. Oscar Romero the church's first Latin American "doctor of the church."
Published in Faith
October 14, 2018

Saints risk all to follow Jesus with love, Pope says at canonization Mass

Pope Francis prepares to greet the crowd after celebrating the canonization Mass for seven new saints in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 14. Among the newly canonized were St. Paul VI and St. Oscar Romero.
VATICAN – Carrying Pope Paul VI's pastoral staff and wearing the blood-stained belt of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, Pope Francis formally recognized them, and five others, as saints of the Catholic Church.
Published in Reflections
October 9, 2018

Canada’s Salvadoran community unites to celebrate Romero

Then-Archbishop Oscar Romero is pictured greeting worshippers in San Salvador, El Salvador.

It’s a nine-hour flight from Toronto to Vatican City. It’s seven hours by jet to El Salvador. But Msgr. Oscar Romero’s canonization on Oct. 14 will not be a distant event for many Catholics. 

Published in Faith
June 13, 2018

Bishops of El Salvador urge lawmakers not to privatize water

A woman and child sit in front of water poster in San Salvador, El Salvador, July 24, 2017
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – El Salvador's bishops urged lawmakers to discard any plans for privatizing water in the Central American country, saying the poor could not afford to pay the cost of a vital necessity.
Published in International
May 24, 2018

Jesuit radio is at forefront of human rights battle in Honduras

Jesuit Father Ismael Moreno waits in the office of Georgia Congressman Henry "Hank" Johnson at the U.S. Capitol May 17 before a news conference. The Honduran priest, better known as Father Melo, met in mid-May with U.S. lawmakers about stopping military aid to the Central American country.
WASHINGTON – A surprising item appears in a proposal requesting donations on behalf of a Jesuit-run radio station in Honduras: bullet-proof glass for the front office.
Published in International
April 7, 2018

The life and turbulent times of Blessed Oscar Romero

The life and turbulent times of Blessed Oscar Romero

For Francisco Rico-Martinez, Archbishop Oscar Romero may well be the saint of silence.

Published in Features
March 7, 2018

Miracles approved: Pope Paul VI, Romero to be declared saints

Msgr. Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI in 1978.
VATICAN – Pope Francis has cleared the way for the canonizations of Blesseds Paul VI and Oscar Romero.
Published in Vatican
July 15, 2017

El Salvador nonprofit keeps mission to serve the poor through war, disasters

Well-wishers gather July 9 at the dedication of a statue honoring Franciscan Father Flavian Mucci in Sonsonate, El Salvador. The statue marks the arrival of Father Mucci to El Salvador, where the founder of the Agape Association of El Salvador has served the poor for 50 years.

SONSONATE, El Salvador – In 1977, when Franciscan Father Flavian Mucci found himself away from home, he decided to host Christmas dinner for the homeless in a rural zone of El Salvador. It was a meal the young friar would never forget.

Published in International
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