For some, El Salvador was a shameful episode, in which Washington backed the perpetrators of a death squad bloodbath in a failed attempt to militarily defeat a homegrown leftist insurgency.

Deep inside Syria, a bishop worked around the blurred edges of international law to save the lives of more than 200 people.

"Despite all divergences, we believe a political compromise is still possible," the bishops said in a Dec. 2 statement.

A crucified God is not the status quo, and it is isn’t made into the acceptable, the intellectually palatable, by the proclamation of the resurrection.

Authorities today were still trying to ascertain a motive for the attack.