In the late 1970s, Salvadoran peasants, many of whom were inspired by leftist ideologies, began to fight for the right to ownership of the land, while the right-wing government responded with extreme brutality. At that time, El Salvador’s economy was basically feudal, as a small number of wealthy families (disproportionately of European origin) owned the majority of the land where the masses of the peasantry, the campesinos, lived in dire poverty. Oscar Romero served as archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 to 1980. Specifically, they will likely use Romero to criticize Pope Francis’ two direct predecessors and repeat the following myths which, as we shall see, are just that: myths. It is likely that in the news coverage in the coming days the secular mainstream media and progressive Catholic outlets will present the Salvadoran martyr as a very different figure from who he really was. Unfortunately, however, Archbishop Romero’s life and legacy have frequently been distorted and seized by political ideologues and those who want to change Church doctrine. The best-known of them are Pope Paul VI (1897-1978), who served the Church as supreme pontiff from 1963 to 1978, and Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980), the courageous Salvadoran archbishop who was martyred while celebrating Mass after having becoming a fervent advocate of the rights of the poor and victims of political violence. On Sunday, Pope Francis will canonize seven new saints.
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