A mural of Monseņor Oscar Romero on the outer wall of a church in San Salvador. (McKellar/CreativeCommons)

The crypt downstairs is an alternate universe, where plastic lawn chairs, a makeshift stage, and simple tombs of El Salvador’s previous archbishops fill a dark space. The only ornamentation is the memorial commemorating the tomb of Monseñor Oscar Romero, the archbishop who was considered the voice of the poor in El Salvador and whose assassination in 1980 spurred the 12-year civil war that still haunts the country. What the crypt lacks in decoration it makes up for in attendance, for the room is filled with people, ranging from adults dressed in suits to teenagers wearing jerseys and jeans. They sing hymns and listen to stories of Jesus’s compassion towards the poor.

This mass is part of a greater movement to resurrect religious worship and service in the spirit of Oscar Romero and liberation theologians like him by celebrating Christianity for Christ’s embracing of everyone, particularly the poor. Despite these weekly anti-establishment services, some say that liberation theology has stagnated in El Salvador since the end of the civil war in 1992, when the country’s religious leadership became increasingly conservative. The underground mass in the crypt of El Salvador’s national cathedral, led every week by a group from a different village, is part of a struggle to return to the teachings of Oscar Romero and Jesus Christ—and to turn away from the ruling conservatism. And a struggle it is.

Through the Eye of a Needle

Liberation theology, which originated in the Catholic Church, focuses on Christ’s struggle to relieve the burdens of the poor. Liberation theologians point to various passages from the Bible to emphasize Jesus’s message of social justice and condemn those who do not spread their wealth.

Although liberation theology was first articulated in the 1960s during the Second Vatican Council, its roots go back to the earliest days of Spanish colonial rule in Latin America. Bartolomé de las Casas, a priest who sailed with Christopher Columbus, denounced the Europeans’ treatment of the indigenous people as contrary to the teachings of Christianity. Priests, particularly from the Jesuit order, have since promulgated similar ideas, creating the cultural foundation for liberation theology.

Liberation theology is part and parcel of El Salvador’s history. Oscar Romero was selected as the fourth archbishop of San Salvador in 1977 because of his conservatism. As archbishop, however, he witnessed the government committing ongoing human rights violations and oppressing the poor, and he turned to liberation theology in search of a solution. At a 1980 mass, Father Romero called upon the country’s soldiers to stop the death squad killings that had beset the country since the coup of the previous year, saying: “You are killing your own brother peasants. Any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God which says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ It is time you recovered your consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order.” Government troops assassinated him as he said the homily, touching off a reaction that exacerbated tensions between poor farmers and the U.S.-backed government, which erupted into civil war.

The war ended in 1992 with peace accords, but tension is still palpable between the two political parties. Once enemies in war, they now battle over their differences on the country’s political stage. ARENA, the ruling party, includes members of the war government and military, while the FMLN, the other major party, consists mostly of former guerillas. With the parties locked in stalemate, the conflict between the reigning religious conservatism and controversial liberation theology remains part of the country’s religious landscape.

Not to Destroy, but to Fulfill

Liberation theology has been under fire in the Church and in El Salvador in recent years, but some El Salvadorans still struggle to adhere to it.