Beatifications back home inspire hopes among US Salvadorans

By ALEJANDRA MOLINA
Religion News Service

Forty-five years ago, a right-wing death squad gunned down the Rev. Rutilio Grande along with two Catholic laymen, Manuel Solórzano and Nelson Lemus in El Salvador on March 12, 1977. Now, along with the Rev. Cosme Spessotto, who was shot dead by Salvadoran soldiers in 1980, these four martyrs have been beatified and are closer to sainthood. Salvadoran Catholics in Los Angeles, which has the largest Salvadoran diaspora in the U.S., say they hope the beatifications will inspire the church to honor the memory of Grande and Spessotto by focusing on the poor and marginalized as they did.