Pope visits Colombia 'to support peace and promote
reconciliation'
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is set to travel to Colombia from
6 to 11 September. He will be the third Pope to visit the Latin American nation
in the footsteps of Pope Paul VI in 1964 and Pope Saint John Paul II in 1986.
Francis begins his trip in the capital Bogota and also will
visit the cities of Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena.
It is a crucial moment for Colombia, which is in the throes
of implementing a peace agreement with FARC rebels after a 52-year internal
conflict that has left over 260,000 people dead, 60,000 unaccounted for and
over 7 million displaced.
The former British Ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel
Baker, who currently heads the South America Department at the
Foreign Office in London, told Linda Bordoni that Pope
Francis’ visit there is an extremely important sign of encouragement for the
nation’s peace process and will help promote reconciliation:
Baker described the papal visit to Colombia as “extremely
important” because it comes in the wake of the extraordinary progress and
journey that the nation has made towards peace by signing a deal with the main
guerrilla group, the FARC, which many thought would have been impossible.
“The extraordinary progress that has been made needs to be
acknowledged,” Baker said.
Another key theme of Pope Francis’ visit to Colombia is to
encourage the process of reconciliation after such a long and bitter civil
war.
In this context, Baker said it was “incredibly important”
that the Pope is meeting victims of the conflict and leading prayers for
national reconciliation during his visit.
Staying on the theme of encouragement, Baker said the people
of Colombia need “to turn the page from the difficult past” and recognize the
huge possibilities and “bright future” that peace can bring to their nation.
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