内容摘要：. Lawmakers eventually patched together a new agreement.

. Lawmakers eventually patched together a new agreement.

A scroll of the Virgin Mary and Jesus once secretly worshipped hangs at a home in Ikitsuki Island in Hirado, southern Japan, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)Now, though, the Hidden Christians are dying out, and there is growing certainty that their unique version of Christianity will die with them. Almost all are now elderly, and as the young move away to cities or turn their backs on the faith, those remaining are desperate to preserve evidence of this offshoot of Christianity — and convey to the world what its loss will mean.

“At this point, I’m afraid we are going to be the last ones,” said Masatsugu Tanimoto, 68, one of the few who can still recite the Latin chants that his ancestors learned 400 years ago. “It is sad to see this tradition end with our generation.”Christianity spread rapidly in 16th century Japan when Jesuit priests had spectacular success converting warlords and peasants alike, most especially on the southern main island of Kyushu, where the foreigners established trading ports in Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands, by some estimates, embraced the religion.That changed after the shoguns began to see Christianity as a threat. The crackdown that followed in the early 17th century was fierce, with thousands killed and the remaining believers chased underground.

As Japan opened up to foreign influence, a dozen Hidden Christians clad in kimono cautiously declared their faith, and their remarkable perseverance, to a French Catholic priest in March 1865 in Nagasaki city.Many became Catholics after Japan formally lifted the ban on Christianity in 1873.

But others chose to stay Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians), continuing to practice what their ancestors preserved during their days underground.

In interviews with The Associated Press, Hidden Christians spoke of a deep communal bond stemming from a time when a lapse could doom a practitioner or their neighbors.Pate, a Republican, was elected agriculture commissioner in 2018 and reelected in 2022.

“I’ve spent my life working the land, running a business, and serving my neighbors,” Pate said in a statement announcing his campaign this week. He also stressed his support for President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach who is running“As lieutenant governor, I’ll bring that same hands-on leadership to supporting President Trump and Coach Tuberville in advancing the America First Agenda — so Alabama stays a place where families thrive, agriculture prospers, and conservative values lead the way.”

The lieutenant governor presides over the state Senate, breaks ties in the chamber, steps in for the governor if that office becomes vacant and also makes a range of appointments, including for committees that dictate legislative priorities.The position used to have more power in the the legislative process, but those duties were given to the Senate’s president pro tempore in 1999 after a partisan power struggle.