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The violent funeral, like Romero's assassination, was a tragic demonstration of how even the church has become a political battleground in predominantly Roman Catholic El Salvador. Of the country's five surviving bishops, only one had seen fit to attend Romero's funeral. The others, described by one priest as "very, very conservative," had been vehemently opposed to Romero's bold stands against the country's repressive oligarchy, which would welcome a military dictatorship. The country's priests are also divided between active, largely urban adherents of so-called liberation theology, and conservative, mostly rural guardians of the status quo.
A newly divisive issue is the question of who will succeed Romero as Archbishop of San Salvador. Vatican prelates are suggesting that the Pope, who has indicated he would like to depoliticize Latin American priests, is inclined to choose "a safe person, not as politically involved as Romero and able to get along with whatever regime emerges." But there is no one of real stature in the El Salvador hierarchy who matches that description. Thus some prelates believe the Pope may play it even safer and simply name an apostolic administrator to step in until hostilities have subsided.