Criminals “are not dangerous people. They are only people who are not sufficiently loved.”

“Every Cuban should be able to freely and respectfully express and share his personal opinions, his thoughts or his convictions, even when he disagrees with the majority,” the bishops said.

El Salvador’s contemporary death squads do not engage in political liquidation. Their targets have largely been criminal suspects or innocent bystanders caught up in the violence.

Guatemala’s historical social inequality has only worsened because of economic deterioration intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic and a political crisis created by President Giammattei’s increasing authoritarian tendencies.

Besides taking up the challenge of exploring new frontiers of evangelization in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Brazilian women religious have also become evangelizers of the “old continent,” Europe, where female vocations have radically declined in recent decades.

As Nicaragua prepares for a general election in November, Mr. Ortega has ramped up a broad repression of dissenting voices. Could the Catholic Church be his next target?