LA Salvadorans celebrate Archbishop Oscar Romero's step toward sainthood

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.”

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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.

"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.