TWO YEARS after the 2005 conclave which could have elected him pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio spoke to priests from El Salvador about what might have been. “The very first thing I would have done is order the beatification of Archbishop Romero,” he reportedly told them. As time passed the chance of Bergoglio’s election became increasingly slim, while the cause for the canonisation of Oscar Romero had become like a newly built car, with a group of Vatican doctrinal mechanics trying to decide whether to put a key in the ignition. Others wanted to throw the keys away.

Today, thanks to what Francis might call the God of Surprises, the Argentinian Jesuit is Pope and Romero will be declared a saint in the coming months.