On Tuesday, the chapel at the Hospital Divina Providencia in San Salvador, where Romero was killed 35 years ago, was packed with people who came to honor the former archbishop.
The pontiff credited with helping to bring down Communism in Eastern Europe – and whose canonization was made possible by a supposed miracle in Costa Rica – was accused of backing right-wing dictators in Latin America including Augusto Pinochet in Chile during the Cold War.