Óscar Romero

Spain's sentencing of a former Salvadoran colonel for the murder of five Jesuit priests means the truth has surfaced, writes Father Manuel Acosta from San Salvador, but a rotten judicial system still causes pain.

A Catholic priest was found dead in El Salvador on Aug. 7, the most recent in a pattern of Salvadoran clergy killings over the past half century. 

A Salvadoran military commander is on trial in Spain for his involvement for the murder of the Salvadoran martyrs at the Jesuit-run Central American University over three decades ago.

Until the canonization of St. Romero in 2018, there were no official Salvadoran saints, though many Salvadorans throughout the decades, since the 1980 killing of St. Romero, prayed for his intercession and long considered him a holy person.

St. Romero continues to this day to influence members of the U.S. church -- from the laity to U.S. bishops -- seeking to model his example of carrying out the church's defense of the vulnerable and protection of the human rights of the poor.

Pope Francis has authorized the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints to promulgate a decree recognizing the martyrdom of Grande and his two lay companions. This suggests that they may soon be beatified—that is, declared “blessed”—most likely in a ceremony in El Salvador later this year.