In February 2014, out-going Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes met personally with Pope Francis in the private library at the Apostolic Palace. Funes brought with him a piece of the cassock that Monsenor Romero was wearing at the moment when he was assassinated at the altar during Mass in 1980. Funes presented this to Pope Francis along with his request that Monsenor Romero be raised to Sainthood. He said that Monsenor Romero was the ‘voice for the voiceless’. Funes said that Romero was the spiritual guide for all Central Americans. Pope Francis had already ‘unblocked’ the process for beatification earlier in the year. After nearly 10 years of stagnation, there may be clear movement in this area.