  President Mauricio Funes flew from El Salvador to Rome for a
12-minute meeting with Francis to encourage the beatification,
the first step to possible sainthood. A Vatican communique said
the talks focused on Romero "and the importance of his witness
for the entire nation."  During the audience, Funes presented
Francis with a bloodstained piece of the priestly vestments
Romero was wearing when he was gunned down by right-wing death
squads on March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass in a hospital
chapel.  Romero's long-shelved sainthood case has been given new
life by the election of the first Latin American pope and a pro-
beatification campaign by Funes' government, which is made up of
former guerrilla fighters who battled the same military
hierarchy that Romero denounced.  Earlier this week, El
Salvador's ambassador to the Holy See, Manuel Lopez, said Funes'
"principal objective" in traveling to Rome was to press for the
beatification and thank Francis for the support he has already
given it.  Lopez said Fran