Óscar Romero, 31 Years On

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the assassination of Óscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, who was murdered while saying mass.  The man who allegedly ordered his killing -- Roberto D'Aubuisson -- went on to found El Salvador's primary right-wing party and commanded many of the death squads who caused so much bloodshed during El Salvador's long, sad civil war.  If you want an introduction to Romero and his words, this article by Michael Campbell-Johnston SJ is a good place to start. (There's also a pretty good movie starring Raul Julia.)

On 24 March 2011, people all over the world will be celebrating the 31st anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador. He was shot, by orders of the government, while celebrating Mass in the chapel of the hospital for incurables where, as Archbishop, he lived. The previous day he had preached what was to be his last Sunday sermon in the cathedral. In it he made an appeal to the ordinary soldiers in the army and low-ranking policeman, calling on them not to obey immoral orders from their officers.

 Read the whole thing here.