"Front row with Francis"

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L'Osservatore Romano photo.

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Pope Francis received Cecilia Romero (pictured), the niece of the slain Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar A. Romero at the end of his General Audience of Wednesday, May 28, 2014.  The encounter was recounted on the Thursday edition of L’Osservatore Romano.  The official Vatican newspaper quoted her as expressing “the hope of seeing the beatification of my uncle, soon.”  She noted that “The saints are always with us and they help us to live the faith every day.”

The encounter was the most recent in a string of meetings with Pope Francis where the Romero beatification has come up.  Others include:

• The Pope’s private audience on May 9, 2014 with a delegation of Salvadoran bishops, including the current Archbishop of San Salvador, which focused on Romero and raised expectations of an imminent beatification announcement.
• The Pope’s private audience on April 26, 2014 with Salvadoran President-elect Salvador Sánchez Cerén, which focused on Romero as well.
• The Pope’s private audience last year with Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, focused on Romero.  Mr. Funes gave Francis a reliquary of Archbishop Romero’s blood.
• The Pope’s general audience greeting of the President of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) in October 2013, during which he assured the parliamentarian that the canonization is “on the right path.”
• The Pope’s meeting in January 2014 with anti-mafia crusader Fr. Luigi Ciotti (“So many figures have accompanied our dialogue: from Oscar Romero to Don Tonino Bello.”)

Super Martyrio has recounted numerous other encounters in a previous post.