World News
Murdered Jesuits honored 20 years after their deaths in El Salvador
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Twenty years after they were killed at Central American University in San Salvador, along with their housekeeper and her daughter, six Jesuit priests are being honored by the Salvadoran government, the U.S. Congress and Jesuit institutions. Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes announced in early November that the priests would receive the National Order of Jose Matias Delgado awards, the country's highest honor, on Nov. 16, the 20th anniversary of the killings. Funes said the awards would be presented as a "public act of atonement" for mistakes by past governments. Two Salvadoran military officers were found guilty in 1991 of ordering the murders. The U.S. Congress, meanwhile, approved a lengthy resolution honoring "these eight spiritual, courageous and generous priests, educators and laywomen" and urging "the people of the United States, academic institutions and religious congregations to participate in local, national and international" commemorations of the anniversary. Such events were scheduled in November at the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, and at other sites around the world.
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