On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared a new dogma of the Catholic Church—a truth revealed by God to be believed by the faithful: that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the end of her time on earth, was assumed, or taken up, into heaven.
Why do you come here?” the elders known as “Professor” and “Boss” were asking. “Because I love you and want to help you,” Satoko Kitahara replied. It was a confrontation that they had replayed many times in this squatter’s village in Tokyo in the years after Japan’s ruinous defeat in the Second World War. Professor and Boss were always hounding…
A crowd had gathered in the field along a country road outside San Salvador, El Salvador. The noontime air was still as Church workers and peasants removed a crude cross made of tree limbs from a mound of fresh earth. Then they began digging. Three feet down, their shovels hit upon the body of a woman. She was clad in…
The tall, frail woman in the wheelchair lifted her hands high above her head in praise. She was plainly tired and in pain, but her countenance was as radiant as the brightly colored African robe she wore. In a deep, soulful voice, she was leading a song: “Oh, deep in my heart, I know, I do believe, we shall overcome…