A recent decision by officials in El Salvador to remove a painting of Saint Óscar Romero from a prominent location in the nation's main airport and move it to a more secluded area, generated backlash from Catholics and opinion leaders, who have been critical of how the nation's government is treating national symbols while trying to rebrand the country as a safe and tourist-friendly destination.
With great enthusiasm and devotion, hundreds of Salvadoran families gathered for a March 24 Mass at the Sacred Heart Shrine in Washington to celebrate the feast of St. Oscar Romero, bishop and martyr from El Salvador.
Authorities in Central America feared the number of dead would increase after the weather system known as Julia left much of the region buried in mud or covered in floods in early October.
On a bright and clear January afternoon, Bishop Oswaldo Escobar Aguilar walked into a cemetery and gently dusted off a white name plate on top of a sky-blue block of tombs. Making plans for the year ahead, he told secretary Violeta Esmeralda Serrano nearby that they needed to make sure the tombs were decorated with flowers Dec. 2.
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.
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.
At least 138 Salvadorans have been murdered after being sent back to their violent Central American country from the United States, according to a report from Human Rights Watch.
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."
On Easter, as thousands of Salvadorans from around the country packed into the rural town of Lolotique, Catholic Church officials laid to rest a 36-year-old priest violently killed during Holy Week -- the latest victim of an unending wave of violence that plagues the country.
Authorities said Father Walter Vasquez Jimenez was traveling with parishioners March 29 to officiate a Holy Thursday Mass in San Miguel when their car was stopped by an armed group wearing masks. The other passengers were set free after their belongings were taken, but Father Vasquez was abducted, shot and left to die.
