On the second day of December in 1980, four US women working for peace and justice in El Salvador were brutally murdered by the military forces of that country:
Laywoman Jean Donovan, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and two Maryknoll missionary sisters, Maura Clarke and Ita Ford. Due to the politics of both the Reagan administration and Pope John Paul II, these women were often spoken of as radical Communists seeking to overthrow the government of El Salvador instead of the loving, kind, hard working women striving to help people oppressed by both poverty and war. In fact, Alexander Haig and Ambassador to the UN Kilpatrick both made statements implying the four churchwomen caused their own deaths. And the cold response of Pope John Paul II that the clergy and religious were not to be involved in political struggles did not help bring any justice to the situation.
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