On the 22nd January, 2026, Pope Leo XIV received in audience Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and authorized the publication of the Decree concerning the martyrdom of the Servant of God Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, born in Guatemala City on the 5th November, 1937, and killed there in odium fidei (hatred of the faith) on the 7th November, 1983.
The martyrdom of the Venerable Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio is part of the climate of violence that was established in Guatemala during the years of military rule and the consequent civil war. Since 1978 the Servant of God was parish priest and guardian in "San Francisco el Grande" in the city of Antigua, Guatemala. By preaching and example he bore witness to the Gospel and the liberating power of faith. He promoted truth and justice and was in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. By his example, he encouraged the faithful to follow Christ.
The pretext for eliminating him presented itself in June 1983 when, in the exercise of the ministry of confession, he welcomed a peasant involved with the guerrillas. He was accused of being himself a sympathiser of the left, whilst in reality he had always remained extraneous to politics, nor did he preach anything but Christ and the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Fr Augusto was kidnapped and tortured, with the intention of extorting information received in confession, then he was released. He, faithful to his ministry, courageously remained at his post, without accepting the suggestions of those who proposed that he leave the country.
In the following months, threats and tailings by the State police multiplied. Finally, on the 7th November, he was kidnapped a second time and shot dead on the outskirts of Guatemala City, whilst trying to save himself by fleeing from the vehicle that was transporting him. His body, tortured and riddled with bullets, was recognized in the mortuary the next day by a family member. He was the thirteenth priest assassinated in Guatemala since 1978.
Fr Augusto belonged to the Custody of the Holy Name of Jesus in Guatemala dependent on the Province of the Friars Minor of Cartagena. For this reason, in his youth, he had received religious and theological formation and priestly ordination in Spain.
The cause of beatification, supported by the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Central America, began in 2008 at the Curia of Guatemala City.