(Philip Pullella. Reuters).
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Friday criticised conservative clergy and bishops who he said had defamed slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero even after he was killed by a right-wing death squad in 1980.
The pope departed from his prepared address to a group of visiting Salvadorans to deliver unusually pointed remarks about the past detractors of Romero, who was beatified last May in El Salvador, putting him a step away from sainthood.
“His martyrdom continued (even after his death). He was defamed, slandered … even by his own brothers in the priesthood and the episcopate,” Francis said.