Some of the tensions still troubling Liberian life have deep social and historical roots.

“This bill is catastrophic for Catholic social teaching and particularly for the people who we’re called to serve,” Sister Carol Keehan said.

Playing the religion card so openly is unusual in France, where the official separation of church and state is normally taken so seriously that politicians rarely if ever mention in public whether they have a faith or not.

More than 35 years after Blessed Romero's death, documentation regarding an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Romero is being studied at the Vatican.

"I have no idea about anything that's going on in the world," she said, because she is busy helping her nine children acclimate to life in the U.S.