Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
LA Salvadorans celebrate Archbishop Oscar Romero's step toward sainthood
Listen
• 0:55
A likeness of Archbishop Oscar Romero on a mural at Pico Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, off a stretch of Vermont known as the El Salvador Community Corridor.
(
Leslie Berestein Rojas/KPCC
)
On Saturday, the Roman Catholic Church will officially beatify Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, bringing the slain clergyman one step closer to becoming a saint.
The recognition will take place in San Salvador. But the buzz is palpable in Los Angeles, home to the largest Salvadoran diaspora outside El Salvador.
On Thursday at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Pico Boulevard, a spot designated by the city as "Monseñor Oscar Romero Square," Mario Enrique Sandoval Pacheco described it as "Romero-mania."
“That’s because everyone is thinking for the 23rd of this month," said Sandoval, 65, a local business owner. "May 23 is going to be the best day for El Salvador.”
Support for LAist comes from
He arrived in the United States as a refugee a month after Romero's assassination in 1980.
Romero was shot in church as he celebrated Mass at the dawn of El Salvador's civil war, which lasted until 1992. He championed the poor and is seen by many as a civil rights hero. But Romero has also been viewed as a political figure, something that until recently hampered efforts to canonize him as a saint. In 2013, Pope Francis cleared the way for sainthood efforts.
Beatification is a step in that direction. Romero will be designated as "blessed." Although sainthood efforts continue, for those who have long revered him, it's a formality of sorts, said Salvador Sanabria, who heads the immigrant assistance group El Rescate.
"He is a saint," Sanabria said, "and he has been a saint since his martyrdom.”
Many Salvadorans have long prayed to and sought guidance from Romero, said Berta Figueroa, who runs a religious articles store on Pico Boulevard. She’s ordered new prayer cards with Romero’s image and expects them to arrive in two weeks.
“We’re happy, because in our lives we've never had a spiritual hero from El Salvador," said Figueroa, who left El Salvador for the United States in 1987, during the war.
A procession honoring Romero and other events are planned in Los Angeles on Saturday, including the dedication of a plaque, made by Pacheco, at the northeast corner of Pico and Vermont.
Support for LAist comes from
"What we have to celebrate is that we have a leader," he said. "Everybody has to be a leader like Mr. Romero."
Oscar Dominguez heads what's designated by the city as the El Salvador Community Corridor, a commercial district that stretches along Vermont from 11th Street to Adams Boulevard. He arrived in the U.S. at 18, which gives him an American perspective on Romero's legacy.
"Same as Martin Luther King, for us, Oscar Romero is one of those leaders that has empowered human beings," Dominguez said.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist