Óscar Romero's life and legacy honored in song

Oscar Arnulfo Romero
Photo taken in 1979 of San Salvador Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero.
AFP | Getty Images 1979

Today's Morning Edition music looks ahead to Saturday in San Salvador, El Salvador, when Catholics will celebrate the beatification of Óscar Romero.

That honor is one step away from sainthood and comes after Pope Francis named him a martyr.

When Romero was the archbishop in El Salvador in the 1970s, he was a vocal advocate for the poor and oppressed. He frequently spoke out against violence committed by the El Salvador government.

On March 24, 1980, he was shot and killed while he led a Mass.

Rob Hahn, a St. Paul resident and former Independence Party candidate for governor, learned about Romero when he was a student at the University of Notre Dame. The story inspired him to write a song, which he recently recorded with a band.

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