Catholic Church in El Salvador

According to a February 2021 survey by the University of Central America’s Institute of Public Opinion, 43.3% of the population saw themselves as Catholic, 33.9% as evangelical Christian, and 18.6% had no religious affiliation.

Archbishop Luis Chávez y González from 1939 to 1977 encouraged priests to study farming cooperatives and made efforts toward improving the poorest sectors of El Salvador[3] (although in other respects he was a conservative who favored film censorship,[4] staunchly opposed Communism,[5] and was devoted to Pope Pius XII).

The most overtly Catholic-influenced political party might be the Partido Demócrata Cristiano with José Napoleón Duarte as one of its most noted founding members.

On March 24, 1980, during the civil war in El Salvador he was assassinated while saying Mass because of his positions regarding the government and demands to the end of the violence in the nation.

[6] A federal judge trying a conspiracy count against a former Salvadoran military officer termed Romero's killing "a crime against humanity."

A noted Catholic school is the Jesuit Externado San José whose alumni include ex-president Armando Calderón Sol and Roque Dalton, a Communist poet.