Senior editor Robert David Sullivan charts America magazine’s year in review, month by month.

Twenty-two men from Espíritu Santo Island who were arrested between under President Nayib Bukele’s state of emergency decree in El Salvador.

The latest boutique hotel to open its doors in Bethlehem’s Old City, just minutes away from Manger Square, is the Morcos Nassar Palace, which doubles as a humanitarian project unique in Palestine and possibly in the Arab world.

Parliamentary inquests have been used in the past to dig deeply into unresolved Mafia crimes and terrorist attacks, and can be activated to conduct investigations “on matters of public interest,” according to the Italian Constitution.

Electronic encryption allows people to keep a list of information secure and untouchable by centralized powers. To some investors and speculators, and apparently to some Catholics, that possibility holds enormous appeal.

Voters generally rejected “election denier” candidates this year, but barriers to full voter access remain significant. Catholics still have an important role to play in protecting democracy.