Bartolomé de las Casas is one of the most powerfully prophetic figures in the history of the Catholic Church. A witness to the terrible destruction of the indigenous peoples of the newly discovered Americas, he became a thorn in the side of the complacent, passionately advocating for human dignity and courageously speaking out against injustice. Las Casas anticipated modern social and political movements by hundreds of years, and vividly reminds us today that a commitment to justice is an essential dimension of Christian discipleship.