Real Heroes

As a comedian, Robin Williams delivered a high-wire act of verbal dexterity balanced with an unpredictable physicality. A word or phrase appeared to set him off on a trajectory of free-association, delivering punchline after punchline. On stage, he appeared as a vital force that would push a joke as far as he could take it. But what many...

“It is not easy to stay home for such a long time,” says Farzana, 15, a child leader in Bangladesh. "But, at this moment we have no choice... We are disconnected from friends, teachers and we are not allowed to even visit each other in the community,” she says, acknowledging that her government took these extreme measures to...

Out of the ruins of one of Nepal’s worst natural disasters, a young girl from a mountain village created lasting change for girls in her community. When natural disasters strike, families must make difficult decisions to survive. Nepal’s devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April 2015, killing more than 9,000 and injuring nearly 22,000 people, was no exception. As parents struggled to...

Outside Poland, Janusz Korczak is best known for his truly heroic final act: incarcerated in the Warsaw ghetto, with nearly 200 children from the orphanage he ran, he decided to refuse the offers of rescue he received from his Polish friends, and to accompany the children instead on their journey to Treblinka, and to certain death. The episode...

Biography Pope Francis Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was elected Pope of the Catholic Church in 2013, he took the name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi, who was known for his embrace of poverty and chastity. Since his election, Pope Francis has stamped his own authority on the Church. In particular, he has sought to emphasize the...