Archbishop Óscar Romero Is Shot While Saying Mass

On the evening of 24 March 1980, Archbishop Óscar Romero stood at the center of the altar inside the chapel of the Hospital de la Divina Providencia in San Salvador. He had just finished his sermon when a red car halted outside on the street. From inside the car, parked outside the chapel's main entrance, a gunman fired a single bullet into the chapel. Romero was struck in the heart and died at the scene, ending a tenure that had made him one of the most visible defenders of human rights in Latin America.

Romero had held a reputation for social conservatism throughout much of his early career. Born in Ciudad Barrios in 1917, he was ordained in Rome during the Second World War and served over two decades in the parish of San Miguel. When appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in February 1977, his elevation was welcomed by the Salvadoran government, while clergy sympathetic to leftist movements feared his traditional outlook would hinder the church's commitments to the poor. Within weeks, however, the assassination of his close friend, the Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande, transformed his approach. Romero resolved that he had to follow the same dangerous path and began openly confronting state authorities over escalating violence.