Provides a detailed analysis of the apparitions of Mary in twentieth-century Catholic Europe~Relates apparitions to major twentieth-century movements and trends, such as communism, Nazism, liberalism, consumerism, and the growth of information technology~Situates outbreaks of apparitions in their socio-political context~Explains that apparitions are movements of renewal amid falling numbers of Catholic adherents, and continue to be signs of the maternal presence of Mary and her concern for the world