Óscar Romero (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a bishop and Archbishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He spoke out against the ills and injustices in his native country in particular against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture. He underwent a spiritual pilgrimage – much like Nicodemus in his life – where he discovered and red-discovered the radical call to “be born again” in faith through Christ. He was an hugely influential witness for the promise, passion and purpose of Christianity in El Salvador and beyond. He was assassinated on 24 March 1980 – in large part for his radical destabilizing witness – while he was serving communion during a mass at the cathedral in San Salvador.
Let us be today’s Christians. Let us not take fright at the boldness of today’s church. With Christ’s light let us illuminate even the most hideous caverns of the human person: torture, jail, plunder, want, chronic illness. The oppressed must be saved, not with a revolutionary salvation, in mere human fashion, but with the holy revolution of the Son of Man, who dies on the cross to cleanse God’s image, which is soiled in today’s humanity, a humanity so enslaved, so selfish, so sinful. (The Violence of Love)
Some relevant links to further engage his testimony to a new identity in Christ
Watch the full-length film of his life and witness from online at youtube.