The six Jesuit priests who were murdered twenty years ago in El Salvador along with their housekeeper and her daughter are to be awarded the country’s highest honour as an act of atonement.
In his announcement, President Mauricio Funes said the Jesuits were being honoured by the Salvadoran government, the US Congress as well as Jesuit institutions.
President 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.
They will posthumously receive the National Order of Jose Matias Delgado on 16 November which marks the 20th anniversary of the killings.
Meanwhile the US Congress has approved a lengthy resolution honouring "these eight spiritual, courageous and generous priests, educators and laywomen" and urging "the people of the US, academic institutions and religious congregations to participate in local, national and international" commemorations of the anniversary.
The resolution, which was passed by both the US House of Representatives and the Senate in late October, stated that the Jesuits had "dedicated their lives to advancing education in El Salvador, protecting and promoting human rights and the end of conflict, and identifying and addressing the economic and social problems that affected the majority of the Salvadoran population".
The resolution highlights how the killing of the martyrs acted as a catalyst for the negotiations which helped bring about the 1992 peace accords in the Central American country.
The resolution states, “the international and Salvadoran outcry in response to the deaths of the six Jesuits and two women and the subsequent investigations into this crime served as a catalyst for negotiations and contributed to the signing of the 1992 peace accords, which have allowed the government and the people of El Salvador to achieve significant progress in creating and strengthening democratic political, economic and social institutions."
However, the resolution also notes that "social and economic hardships persist among many sectors of Salvadoran society."
US agencies are urged to "support and collaborate with the government of El Salvador and other public, private, non governmental and religious organisations in efforts to reduce poverty and hunger and to promote educational opportunity, human rights, the rule of law and social equity for the people of El Salvador."
The bitter civil war which ravaged in El Salvador from 1980 until 1992 left up to 75,000 people dead out of the tiny country's population of six million.
Commemorative events are planned this month at the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere around the world.
The eight priests and two laywomen killed in the early morning hours of 16 November 1989 were:
* Fr Ignacio Ellacuria, 59, rector of Central American University.
* Fr Ignacio Martin-Baro, 44, vice rector and director of the university's Public Opinion Institute.
* Fr Segundo Montes, 56, dean of the department of social sciences and a professor of sociology.
* Fr Amando Lopez, 53, a professor of philosophy and theology.
* Fr Juan Ramon Moreno, 56, a professor of theology.
* Fr Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, 71, founder and director of Fe y Alegria (Faith and Joy), which opened 30 educational centres in marginalised communities throughout El Salvador.
* Julia Elba Ramos, 42, cook and housekeeper for the Jesuit seminarians.
* Celina Mariset, 16, Julia Ramos' daughter.
