Archbishop Oscar Romero

Salvadoran clergy are hopeful that the canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered while celebrating Mass March 24, 1980, during El Salvador’s civil war, will move forward under the Church’s first Latin American pope.

“The time is ripe for a final verdict,” said Auxiliary Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez of San Salvador.

The media, he said, have reported about the admiration that the new pontiff has for Romero and the conviction that the martyred prelate should be canonized.

“The stars are aligned (for Romero’s canonization), but I insist that we should not rush.

God has his time and that time will come,” Rosa Chavez added.

The canonization process for Archbishop Romero began in 1994.

Msgr. Jesus Delgado told reporters that Bergoglio in 2007 told him that if he were the pope, the beatification and canonization of the slain archbishop would the first thing he would pursue.