The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Savior (Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador) is the principal church of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of San Salvador and the seat of the Archbishop of San Salvador. The church was twice visited by Pope John Paul II who said that the cathedral was "intimately allied with the joys and hopes of the Salvadoran people."^[1] During his visits in 1983 and 1996, the Pope knelt and prayed before the Tomb of Archbishop Óscar Romero, assassinated in 1980, whose tomb here is a major pilgrim draw. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... In some Christian churches, the diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see, though more often the term episcopal see means the office held by the bishop. ... Coordinates: Country El Salvador Department San Salvador Municipality San Salvador Founded 1525 Seat of the Government 1546 Capital of the Nation 1839 Mayor Violeta Menjívar Area    - City 610 km²  - Urban 514 km²  - Metro 1,522,126 km² Population    - City (2005) 2,233,696  - Density 7,064/km² Website: http... History What is currently the territory of the Republic of El Salvador previously belonged to the General Captaincy of Guatemala and, ecclesiastically, to the Archdiocese of Guatemala. ... The current Pope is Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger), who was elected at the age of 78 on 19 April 2005. ... Official papal image of John Paul II. His Holiness Pope John Paul II, né Karol Józef Wojtyła (born May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland), is the current Pope — the Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. ... A cathedral is a Christian church building, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Anglican, Catholic and some Lutheran churches, which serves as the central church of a diocese, and thus as a bishops seat. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Msgr. ...

The Cathedral site is the place where the old Temple of Santo Domingo (St. Dominic) once stood. The Cathedral stands on the northern side of Plaza Barrios, named after the Salvadoran military hero, Gerardo Barrios. On the western periphery of Plaza Barrios is the old National Palace building. The Cathedral has a history of tragedy and rebirth. For the first half of the 20th Century, a wooden structure Cathedral served as the seat of San Salvador's archbishops. On August 8, 1951, the Old San Salvador Cathedral was consumed by fire as a distraught crowd of the faithful looked on. St Dominic presiding over an auto de fe, Spanish, 1475 Saint Dominic (born at Calaruega, Spain, around 1170; died August 6, 1221, at Bologna, Italy) founded the Dominican Order. ... Gerardo Barrios was President of El Salvador 12 March 1859 - 26 October 1863. ...

For the next forty years, the San Salvador Cathedral was a barren concrete structure, of exposed bricks and jutting iron buttresses. During the late 1970s, Archbishop Óscar Romero famously deferred completion of the Cathedral in order to fund projects for the poor. During this time, the Cathedral was the stage of several national sagas, including the grand funerals of assassinated political figures, and Romero's fiery Sunday masses. On May 9, 1979, 24 demonstrators were gunned down by security forces on the front steps of the Cathedral during the San Salvador Cathedral Massacre.^[2] Msgr. ...

An even greater toll was exacted on Palm Sunday, March 31, 1980, during the funeral of Archbishop Romero, when 44 people were killed during a stampede after security forces fired on mourners/worshippers and Romero's funeral cortege. Later, the square in front of the Cathedral was the site of rapturous celebrations after the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords that ended the Salvadoran Civil War in 1992. The Cathedral was completed in the 1990s and finished off with a festive tiled facade by the Salvadoran master Fernando Llort. Palm Sunday is a moveable feast in the church calendar observed by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians. ... The Chapultepec Peace Accords was a treaty which brought peace to El Salvador in 1992 after more than a decade of wrenching civil war. ... The El Salvador Civil War was predominantly fought between the Salvadoran military dictatorship and a unified leftist opposition guerrilla movement known as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) between 1980 and 1992. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1996/february/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19960208_pastorale-san-salvador_sp.html, Greeting of the Holy Father John Paul II to Catechists in the Cathedral of San Salvador.
2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_2520000/2520219.stm, 1979: El Salvador cathedral bloodbath.