TheCatholic Church in El Salvador is part of the worldwideCatholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of thePope inRome and theEpiscopal Conference of El Salvador. There are almost 5 million Catholics inEl Salvador. The country is divided into eightdioceses including onearchdiocese,San Salvador. TheConstitution explicitly recognizes the Catholic Church and it has legal status.
According to a February 2021 survey by theUniversity of Central America’s Institute of Public Opinion, 43.3% of the population saw themselves as Catholic, 33.9% as evangelical Christian, and 18.6% had no religious affiliation.[1]
Despite its legal status, Catholicism in El Salvador has been in decline for the last 17 years with the most devout members above age 53. According to some sources, Catholicism is only adhered to by 39% of its populace.[2] Catholicism is most dominant in theSan Vicente Department and weakest inSanta Ana. In the fall of 2018, El Salvador had its first saint, BlessedOscar Romero.
Catholicism began in the nation in the sixteenth century with the arrival ofPedro de Alvarado.San Salvador was made an archdiocese on February 11, 1913 with Monsignor Antonio Adolfo Perez as first Archbishop. Prior to that date it had been under the jurisdiction ofGuatemala. ArchbishopLuis Chávez y González from 1939 to 1977 encouraged priests to study farming cooperatives and made efforts toward improving the poorest sectors of El Salvador[3] (although in other respects he was a conservative who favored film censorship,[4] staunchly opposedCommunism,[5] and was devoted toPope Pius XII).
The governments have had a mixed relationship with the Catholic Church varying from friendly to anti-clerical. The most overtly Catholic-influenced political party might be thePartido Demócrata Cristiano withJosé Napoleón Duarte as one of its most noted founding members. The dealings of the government with the Catholic Church or Catholic organizations varied depending on the leadership of church or state at any given time. In modern times El Salvador is noted for having members linked to social and reform movements. At times these include followers of what's termedLiberation theology. The most well-known figure in the El Salvadoran church's history isArchbishop of San SalvadorÓscar Romero. On March 24, 1980, during thecivil war in El Salvador he was assassinated while sayingMass because of his positions regarding the government and demands to the end of the violence in the nation. In 2004 the Church in El Salvador asked for a reinvestigation of the case.[6] A federal judge trying a conspiracy count against a former Salvadoran military officer termed Romero's killing "acrime against humanity."
Despite that, most of the church in El Salvador is more conservative than this[7] and had no sympathy to the rebels during the civil war.Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, originally ofOpus Dei, is the currentArchbishop of San Salvador. He is in general an opponent ofLiberation theology and his appointment in 1995 was viewed with disdain by followers of that controversial school of thought.[8] He has been active in charitable work for earthquake victims[9] and outspoken against violence.[10]
El Salvador's first and only Cardinal,Gregorio Rosa Chavez, was an Auxiliary Bishop to the Archbishop of San Salvador Jose Luis Escobar Alas, was appointed by Pope Francis. He retired in October 2022.[11]
| Priests | 1,013 |
| Priests per capita | 1 in 5,171 |
| Females in religious life | 1,669 |
| Parishes | 518[12] |
A variety of saint days are celebrated as local holidays.[13] The country itself is called "El Salvador" which translates as "The Savior" and takes the Transfigured Jesus,the Divine Savior of the World, as its patron saint, and His Feast Day on August 6 is a national holiday. The nation's co-patroness isOur Lady of Peace.
A noted Catholic school is theJesuitExternado San José whose alumni include ex-presidentArmando Calderón Sol andRoque Dalton, a Communist poet. A prominent seminary is San José de la Montaña inSan Salvador where both Romero and liberation theologianRutilio Grande studied.
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