Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis has declared Tuesday that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero (above) was assassinated as a martyr for the Catholic faith, and the beatification of the prelate who was shot dead in 1980 after urging the church to stand with the poor is expected within months.

While the Vatican has not announced the date for the beatification — the last step before sainthood for the Salvadoran archbishop — it did say there would be a press briefing on the matter tomorrow with Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, a Vatican official who is leading Romero’s sainthood cause.

The Pope’s declaration of martyrdom, confirms reports last month that a commission of Vatican theologians had formally declared Romero a martyr, stating that the archbishop  ‘in hatred of the faith’.