San Salvador. 1986. A portrait of Archbishop Oscar ROMERO in a San Salvador orphanage. Outspoken Archbishop ROMERO was assassinated by death squads in the early years of the war for his condemnation of the landed oligarchy and his defense of the poor. The Catholic Church suffered prosecution because it defended the poor, for the influence of liberation theology on the clergy's thinking, and its support of the right of the poor to take up arms agianst oppression.