Bartolomé de las Casas and the Forgotten Flock

In 1514, a Spanish priest named Bartolomé de las Casas stood in his church on the island of Hispaniola and read the words of Ecclesiasticus: "The bread of the needy is their life; he that defraudeth him thereof is a man of blood." He looked out at the congregation — conquistadors who called themselves Christians — and something broke open inside him.…