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THE Vatican has authorised the beatification of four “martyrs” killed in El Salvador by US-funded death squads during the violent period prior to all-out civil war in the Central American country.
Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande and Franciscan friar Cosme Spessotto were assassinated in 1977 along with 72-year-old Manuel Solorzano and 16-year-old Nelson Rutilio Lemus.
“Pope Francis has granted the celebration of the beatification of the venerable servants of God,” the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador said on Friday.
The ceremony will be presided over by Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez on January 22 2022.
An estimated 75,000 people were killed during the 12-year civil war. The United Nations estimated that the US-backed government was responsible for at least 85 per cent of the deaths.
Assassinations intensified after a military junta seized power in1979, violently suppressing protests.
Those targeted by the death squads and armed forces included civilians, Catholic priests, trade unionists and members and supporters of the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).
