Bishops of El Salvador meet Pope Francis in ad Limina visit

Bishops of El Salvador meet Pope Francis in ad Limina visit

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis on Monday received the Prelates of El Salvador, who are in Rome for their 'ad Limina Apostolorum' visit. 

Their visit takes place ahead of the March 24th feast day of the former Archbishop of San Salvador, Blessed Oscar Romero, and the 37th anniversary of his assassination by hired gunmen at the height of El Salvador’s civil war.

El Salvador is a Latin American Republic with a population of around 6.5 million people, nearly 80 percent of whom are Catholic.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop José Luis Escobar'Alas of San Salvador and President of the Episcopal Conference said the primary pastoral challenges in El Salvador are "the defense of life, understood in its full sense as justice, truth and peace in a society marked by violence."

He said the bishops are "working to recover family values, that is, of a solid and responsible family, which can save the whole of society."

The Prelates who met with Pope Francis are listed below:

Archbishop José Luis Escobar'Alas of San Salvador, with his auxiliary, Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chávez, titular bishop of Mulli;

Bishop Oswaldo Estéfano Escobar Aquilano, O.C.D., of Chalatenango;

Msgr. Emilio Antonio Rivas Segovia, diocesan administrator of San Miguel;

Bishop Miguel Ángel Morán Aquino of Santa Ana;

Bishop William Ernesto Iraheta Rivera of Santiago de María;

Bishop José Elias Rauda Gutiérrez, O.F.M., of San Vicente;

Bishop Constantino Barrera Morales of Sonsanate;

Bishop Elas Samuel Bolaños Avelar, S.D.B., of Zacatecoluca;

Bishop Fabio Reynaldo Colindres Abarca, Military Ordinary.

(Devin Sean Watkins)

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