Villavicencio, Colombia, Sep 8, 2017 / 03:46 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told the Colombian people Friday that while it will be challenging, they must let go the anger caused by years of painful suffering and break the cycle of violence through a process of genuine forgiveness.
“Violence leads to more violence, hatred to more hatred, death to more death. We must break this cycle which seems inescapable,” the Pope said Sept. 8. “This is only possible through forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Pope Francis spoke during a prayer gathering in Villavicencio for national reconciliation as part of his Sept. 6-11 visit to Colombia.
The trip, which marks his third tour of South America since his election, is largely the result of the country’s ongoing peace process between the government and Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
After more than six decades of conflict, a peace deal was finally struck in August 2016, de-escalating a conflict which since 1964 has left some 260,000 people dead and an estimated 7 million displaced.
Archbishop Oscar Urbina Ortega of Villavicencio greeted the Pope, offering his own brief reflection on the need for reconciliation.
In his comments, the archbishop stressed that “you cannot have true conversion of heart that does not also produce social and political resonances. Because of this reconciliation is offered to everyone.”
Reconciliation among the Colombian people “is a process, not only a goal or a perfect state,” Archbishop Urbina said, pointing to the strong desire of Colombians to overcome the pain caused by different forms of violence such as kidnapping, extortion, displacement, forced disappearance, forced recruitment, threats against life, and murders.
These, he said, “have destroyed projects of life from thousands of families and communities,” and it will take time to help so many people rebuild their lives.
“The search and constant effort to listen to each other, forgive each other and to try again will be the basis for generating a culture of fraternity,” Archbishop Urbina said, praying that that God would give them “a fruitful seed so that the tree of forgiveness, justice, reconciliation and peace blooms in this land.”
Pope Francis then listened to four testimonies from victims of the violence, including former FARC fighters and former members of other paramilitary groups.
The first testimony was given by Juan Carlos Murcia Perdomo, who was part of FARC forces for 12 years, and reflected on truth. After being recruited at 16, he lost his left had working with explosives.
He eventually ascended the ranks and was named commander of his own squad. However, Murcia said at the same time he felt used and had a strong sense of nostalgia for home, and little by little understood that violence wasn’t the right path. He left FARC and later launched the “Funddrras Foundation,” which is dedicated to sports in a bid to offer youth an alternative to drugs and violence.
Deisy Sanchez Rey, who at 16 was recruited by her brother to join the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary and drug trafficking group, spoke on justice. She shared her story of how she was eventually arrested and, after two years in prison, wanted to change her life. She began attending Mass and studying psychology, and now offers counseling to victims of drugs and violence.
A third testimony, given by Luz Dary Landazury, the victim of an explosion set off by guerrilla forces, regarded mercy. In addition to nearly losing her left leg and suffering wounds all over her body, Landazury’s 7-month-old daughter also suffered significant injuries to her face.
Despite her anger, Landazury said she eventually understood that hate would only lead to more violence, and so began visiting other victims in order to help them learn to let go of their own anger and move forward with their lives.
The final testimony, focused on peace, was given by Pastora Mira Garcia, whose father was killed by guerrillas when she was just 6-years-old. She also lost her first husband, her daughter, and her son to guerrilla violence.
However, with what she describes as grace and the help of Our Lady, she was able not only to work with other families who had experienced similar losses, but eventually, in different moments, met and cared for both her father’s killer, who was sick and abandoned, and her son’s murderer, who was wounded.
In his address following the testimonies, Pope Francis said he had been looking forward to the encounter “since my arrival in your country.”
“You carry in your hearts and your flesh the signs of the recent, living memory of your people which is marked by tragic events, but also filled with heroic acts, great humanity, and the noble spiritual values of faith and hope,” he said.
Colombia has sadly become “a land watered by the blood of thousands of innocent victims and by the heart-breaking sorrow of their families and friends,” he said, adding that these wounds “hurt us all, because every act of violence committed against a human being is a wound in humanity’s flesh.”
The Pope said he didn’t come to speak, but rather “to be close to you and to see you with my own eyes, to listen to you and to open my heart to your witness of life and faith. And if you will allow me, I wish also to embrace you and weep with you.”
“I would like us to pray together and to forgive one another – I also need to ask forgiveness – so that, together, we can all look and walk forward in faith and hope.”
He pointed to the Crucifix of Bojayá, where on May 2, 2002, 119 civilians, including 45 children, were killed by guerrilla forces in an effort to take the Atrato River region from the AUC. Victims had taken refuge in the town’s church, but were all killed when the militants began launching gas cylinder bombs inside.
Pope Francis noted how the crucifix pulled from the carnage shows a Christ “mutilated and wounded,” with no arms and no body. “But his face remains, with which he looks upon us and loves us.”
To see Christ this way challenges us, he said, and reminds us of the “immense suffering, the many deaths and broken lives, and all the blood spilt in Colombia these past decades.”
“Christ broken and without limbs is for us even more Christ, because he shows us once more that he came to suffer for his people and with his people,” Francis said. “He came to show us that hatred does not have the last word, that love is stronger than death and violence.”
Turning to the testimonies given, the Pope said he was moved when listening to them, because they are stories that speak of pain and suffering, “but also, and above all, they are stories of love and forgiveness that speak to us of life and hope; stories of not letting hatred, vengeance or pain take control of our hearts.”
“Thank you, Lord, for the witness of those who inflicted suffering and who ask for forgiveness; for the witness of those who suffered unjustly and who forgive,” he said, adding that “this is only possible with your help and presence.”
Francis recalled how in her testimony, Mira Garcia had said that she wanted to place her suffering and that of all victims of the conflict at the feet of Christ Crucified, “so that united to his suffering, it may be transformed into blessing and forgiveness so as to break the cycle of violence that has reigned over Colombia.”
“And you, dear Pastora, and so many others like you, have shown us that this is possible,” he said, adding that “with the help of Christ alive in the midst of the community, it is possible to conquer hatred, it is possible to conquer death and it is possible to begin again and usher in a new Colombia.”
Noting how in her testimony Luz Dary shared that the wounds in her heart were deeper and harder to heal than the ones that scarred her body, he acknowledged that this is true, and commended her for realizing that “it is not possible to live with resentment, but only with a love that liberates and builds.”
By going out of herself to help other victims heal and rebuild their lives, Dary found the peace and serenity needed to keep going, he said. And while physical wounds remain, “your spiritual gait is fast and steady, because you think of others and want to help them.”
Turning to Deisy and Juan Carlos, the former FARC and AUC fighters, Pope Francis said their testimony helps one to understand that they, too, are victims.
“In the end, in one way or another, we too are victims, innocent or guilty, but all victims,” he said. “We are all united in this loss of humanity that means violence and death.”
“There is also hope for those who did wrong; all is not lost,” he said, noting that while justice requires that those who do wrong “undergo moral and spiritual renewal,” we must all “make a positive contribution to healing our society that has been wounded by violence.”
Francis recognized that it might be hard to believe change is possible given the sheer amount of suffering and violence perpetrated by those pursuing their own agenda. However, “even when conflicts, violence and feelings of vengeance remain, may we not prevent justice and mercy from embracing Colombia’s painful history,” he said.
“Let us heal that pain and welcome every person who has committed offenses, who admits their failures, is repentant and truly wants to make reparation, thus contributing to the building of a new order where justice and peace shine forth.”
As part of the reconciliation process, “it is also indispensable to come to terms with the truth.” This, he said, “is a great challenge, but a necessary one,” because “truth is an inseparable companion of justice and mercy.”
Both truth and justice are essential in building peace, he said, explaining that each prevents the other from being manipulated and transformed into “instruments of revenge against the weakest.”
Truth, the Pope said, “means telling families torn apart by pain what happened to their missing relatives,” and “confessing what happened to minors recruited by violent people.” It also means “recognizing the pain of women who are victims of violence and abuse.”
Pope Francis closed his address offering his perspective as “a brother and a father,” telling Colombia to “open your heart as the People of God and be reconciled. Fear neither the truth nor justice.”
“Do not be afraid of asking for forgiveness and offering it. Do not resist that reconciliation which allows you to draw near and encounter one another as brothers and sisters, and surmount enmity,” he said.
“Now is the time to heal wounds, to build bridges, to overcome differences. It is time to defuse hatred, to renounce vengeance, and to open yourselves to a coexistence founded on justice, truth, and the creation of a genuine culture of fraternal encounter.”
Francis then led attendees in a prayer for peace to the “Christ of Bojayá,” in “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,” a 20th century prayer which is often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, and in the Hail Mary. Before departing, the Pope blessed all present.
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“. . . this is leading many Catholics to Protestantism . . .”
And not just in Brazil.
Back in 2006 when I was my diocese’s Director of Catholic Charities I made the decision that we would begin doing medical missions to Guatemala. What convinced me was a visit to Guatenala where I witnessed firsthand numerous missionaries from protestant denominations who were in Guatemala for one reason which was to convert baptized Catholics into protestant evangelicalism. I also was aghast at the thousands of evangelical churches that dotted the landscape. I thought to myself that I could just retutn to my home diocese and do nothing or I could begin to organize Catholics in my diocese to become missionaries to the Guatemalan people. That I did
Sometimes the road to Protestantism is the road back to Rome. They go there because we are not doing our job in teaching and evangelizing. We should be thankful for what they do and acknowledge what we are NOT doing. We should love our “separated brethren “ and share with them the fullness of faith just as Paul did with those who only knew of the baptism of John and those who did not have the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
How’s that Liberation Theology working out in Nicaragua, Pope Francis?
Such a question to pose to Pope Francis as one may readily anticipated his response “Nicaragua is struggling only because the radical traditionalist have precluded the fullest implementation of Liberation Theology in Nicaragua as well as throughout the world.”
There is arguable evidence that “liberation theology” was not so much the intellectual achievement of theologians as a construct of communists, esp. in Romania, who tried to package Marxism in Christian wineskins and found gullible “thinkers” buying the sauce.
Absolutely true, “liberation” theology was political, thoroughly, and the cause of decline of true Christianity in all parts of the world it was and still is being espoused. We can not “believe” in a church that is based on faith in a political solution to societal ills. It will fail, and in fact in this instance,brought about even more suffering and persecution, even more poverty, than BEFORE the new Catholicism in the form of Liberation Theology was espoused. I listened and learned from these liberation theologists in the 70s and 80s, and wised up when I saw the results. Results on the poor is what my bottom line is, and liberation theolody/marxism does not raise up the poor.
100% agree. Oddly my full comment of agreement was declined to post, but at least I can 100% agree
Sorry, it WAS accepted, just after I posted it was not. Apologies.
So the Vatican discernment for the catastrophe called liberation theology in Brazil is to resuscitate and rehabilitate it for worldwide export. 🤦♀️
Quick, lock the doors and alert the masters of synodality that there’s another “backward” Christian lurking in Brazil!
And, of the Boff brothers, why are we reminded of the difference, too, between Karl Rahner and his brother and priest Hugo? Fr. Hugo Rahner once said that he would like to translate Karl’s theologically foggy German tomes—into German!
“It is necessary for the Church to once again emphasize Christ as priest, as master and Lord, and not just the fight against poverty” or climate change.
Absolutely. Jesus DID say the poor would always be with us. He said nothing about climate change yet He does control the wind and the rain. He set limits to the seas.
Without HIM we can do absolutely zero, NADA, nothing. So why do delude ourselves, huh? He also said He would be with us always, so why do we wait to call upon Him?
The problem is that too many clergy imagine that Catholicism is the same thing as Communism. Its not. But by the time some realize it, the damage is already far gone. If some are FINALLY waking up to the fact that they have tossed out the baby with the bath water, more the better. The REAL question is, can the many decades of damage still be reversed?
In the public health scam COVID-cum-COVID-vaccine, the Pope propagated a singular solidarity in the scam vaccinations as the way of universal human fraternity and (somehow) love of the poor -all through the Cross of Christ.
At a particular Way of the Cross event he demonstrated a total conviction with a patterning to obedience, “Christ at the absolute center with a cost”.
I forgive the Pope for it. It is nonetheless a total disaster. Of what now ensues, I think it is necessary to practice greater fidelity in faith in order to make up for what remains absent; help what might be inoffensive or perhaps right; and be vigilant for what is still likely to go wrong again.
I would like to point out to him, for a consideration, that what the “singular solidarity” approach does in many instances, is, it merely leaves his apostolate and that of many others, hamstrung. And it can contain a rigidity all its own.
What is the percentage of professed Catholics in traditionally known “Catholic” nations, such as Italy or Spain? Also, we all need to read in Sacred Scripture Thessalonians 2:1-8 a great falling way from Christ’s Church.
Liberation Theology is heresy. You can’t “put Christ at the center” of heresy “because it will cost you”. You have to reject the heresy.
The thing with heresy is that it gets in your blood, your very spirit becomes polluted; and only the grace of God can purify.
This article is too descriptive and carries forward the tone of accommodation. Christ does not rectify heresy, He destroys it.
Make mammon the priority over holiness of soul and you have gone awry. Give the poor enough mammon and you save them from evil? Hardly. Yet, how many with enough mammon believe they no longer need God? Too many. Brazil is wealthy. As the wealth has come, the need for the faith diminished. The SJWs post V2 had the same “pie in the sky” mentality about divinizing saving the helpless poor. The orders that took their eyes off Heaven and refocused their energies on lifting the poor out of poverty were all dissolved from atrophy 5-years or so afterward. It was a death knoll. Jesus said that “the poor will always be with you.” I think it’s well past time we accept that and move on to saving souls again. It matters.
To understand the impact of Liberation Theology in Brazil, it’s necessary to assess it in the wider context of world affairs in the region, plus the common cultural dynamic of class color. Insofar as world affairs the US supported a policy of support and intervention for dictatorial leaders who were anti communist. Example, the notoriously oppressive Somoza govt Nicaragua, which precipitated the Ortega anti Catholic regime. Class color is a preferential tendency for lighter complected leadership. We find this in S America, India, and elsewhere, and to a large extent during the history of the US [today in the US there’s an exaggerated, likely unjust effort to reverse the trend at the expense of the lighter complected].
Most of the clergy in S America were from upper to middle class families, many plantation patroons. Archbishop Romero, Salvador, was murdered because he opposed the class system that victimized the poor. Whatever the source of Liberation Theology, its error in sidelining Christ in favor of the underprivileged, climate it remains that it addressed injustices that are at least partially responsible for Catholic apostasy.
It’s an historical fact that Jorge Bergoglio, when prefect for the Jesuits in Argentina refused to support three confreres involved in the liberation movement who were arrested and mistreated by police. He later contended that this was a mistake. According to biographer Austen Ivereigh he reversed course, adapting a Peronist socialist outlook that may explain his radical approach to traditional doctrine. John Paul II opposed Liberation Theology but successfully intervened in the similar Solidarity movement in Poland. Perhaps he could have done as well in S America.
“Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven’” (Matthew 19:21). A primary dynamic in Christ’s message is compassion for those in need. That is mentioned throughout the Gospels and letters.
There are injustices in this world that require correction. Keeping people in virtual slave labor conditions to preserve wealth and status is an injustice. Unfortunately, the Vatican failed to develop a viable response to the immoral disparity between the upper and lower classes in S America. When Catholic missionaries addressed these moral issues, aside from the ideologues, with due prudence, they were falsely accused of being Marxists.
For the rest of us, if we content ourselves with our comfortable status and neglect witness to the truth, for example, those in dire need we neglect a vital dimension of our salvation. As readers well know I don’t agree with all that Pope Francis proposes. But on this social justice issue I agree fully.
Liberation Theology is a pseudo-Christian idea. Sadly it won’t be abandoned anytime soon. The hubris in the hierarchy will likely double down on the failing and flawed idea until the numbers are unavoidable. Too many people assume that the peddlers of Liberation Theology are interested in growing the church. I’d posit their real aim to is to feel good in their emoting of the ideas within Liberation Theology instead of actually doing good. The WSJ had an article on the rise of Pentecostalism in South America not too long ago. One of the speculated ideas was that the Liberation Theology hold put economic prosperity in a negative light, whereas the non-Catholic denominations were at peace with those in poverty trying to break into the middle class.
Here is an attempt t0 apply “liberation theology” to Catholic schools which are now too expensive for the poor:
“A preferential option for the poor” should be maintained in our Catholic Schools. If we find that we cannot afford to keep our schools open to the poor, the Church should be ready to use its resources for something else which can be kept open to the poor. We cannot allow our Church to become a church primarily for the middle-class and rich while throwing a bone to the poor. The priority should be given to the poor even if we have to let the middle-class and rich fend for themselves.
Practically speaking, the Catholic Schools must give up general education in those countries where the State is providing it. The resources of the Church could then be focused on “Confraternity of Christian Doctrine” and other programs which can be kept open to the poor. These resources could then be used to help society become more human in solidarity with the poor. Remember, the Church managed without Catholic Schools for centuries. It can get along without them today. The essential factor from the Christian point of view is to cultivate enough Faith to act in the Gospel Tradition, namely, THE POOR GET PRIORITY. The rich and middle-class are welcome too. But the poor come first.
Seriously? What is your issue, really? Do you imagine the middle class and “wealthy” kids have no souls to be saved? Poor is a relative concept, with most poor Americans ( with clean clothing, new sneakers and cell phones) looking like they have a pretty decent deal to the rest of the world. That is why we are presently in need of a very large WALL to keep these folks OUT.We do indeed have a standard public school system here in the US. However with the leftist oriented teachers telling the kids the US is a horrible country, slamming the white kids for being white, and indoctrinating ALL the kids with noxious and perv sexual concepts, I would not enroll a dog there. Finally, statistics show most US public schools have exceedingly large numbers of kids not meeting standards of achievement for math and English. Why would ANYONE with a brain put their kids there. Finally, with the middle class and wealthy tuition payers pushed out of Catholic schools, who do you imagine is going to come up with the cash to pay the teachers, electric and heating bill, etc? The poor folks? Dont think so. We do indeed have poor catholics and existing catholic schools should make certain to admit a few such families to the school tuition free. A teacher will be teaching whether there are 16 kids in the class or 18. Our church just took up a collection of school supplies for a neighboring parish for the upcoming school year. There are of course deserving poor, but some of us are tired of having to hear the whine and then get kicked for it.
“This option [for the poor] is not limited to material poverty, since it is well known that there are many other forms of poverty, especially in modern society—not only economic, but cultural and spiritual poverty as well” (St. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 1993, n. 57).
Liberation Theology is not merely “thoroughly political movement that actually works against the poor/exploits the poor”; it is heresy.
So you blend Marxist ideology with Christian theology and then wonder why people end up leaving the church? That’s not exactly rocket science.
Liberation Theology was an effective tool in the armory of Jesus of Nazareth. In his time Jesus liberated the sinners from sin, the tax collectors from greed, the exploiters from practicing all forms of corruption. Following in the footsteps of Christ, the apostles and the disciples became teachers and practitioners of liberation theology. Sensitizing and conscientizing the simple and pious people who were led astray by the regimes of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Levites, the good old liberation theologians of the first century unleashed a sustainable emancipatory model for living and serving in dignity, as human beings made in the image and likeness of the divine.
Liberation Theology is a modern heresy.