EL SALVADOR: Something Vile in This Land

Panic and death defile a peacemaker's funeral

The sealed gray casket of assassinated Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero rested on the steps of San Salvador's huge Metropolitan Cathedral, a wreath of red roses at its head. Mexican Cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada, the personal delegate of Pope John Paul II, had just finished a eulogy, praising Romero as a "beloved, peacemaking man of God" and prophesying that "his blood will give fruit to brotherhood, love and peace." Suddenly, the outdoor funeral service in the center of El Salvador's capital was transformed into a tableau of...

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