Oscar Romero beatification draws huge El Salvador crowds

Oscar Romero - the Roman Catholic archbishop murdered during the 1980-92 civil war - has been beatified at a ceremony in El Salvador attended by huge crowds.

At least 250,000 people have filled the streets of the capital San Salvador for the ceremony.
It is the last step before Archbishop Romero is declared a saint.
He was shot dead by a sniper as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel on 24 March 1980.

Giant TV screens have been placed across the capital so that those away from the stage can watch the ceremony.

When the US-backed Salvadorean army was using death squads and torture to stop leftist revolutionaries from seizing power, he was not afraid to speak out in his weekly sermons, she says.

"The law of God which says thou shalt not kill must come before any human order to kill. It is high time you recovered your conscience," he said in his last homily in 1980, calling on the National Guard and police to stop the violence.

"I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression."

That was a sermon that cost him his life. A day later, while giving mass, he was hit through the heart by a single bullet.

(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32859627)