Pope Francis’ efforts to consolidate Colombia’s peace process with a five-day visit produced a result even before the trip began: a cease-fire between the government and the country’s last major rebel group.
Francis is sure to hail the cease-fire with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, when he arrives in Bogota on Wednesday, seeing it as another major step forward in Colombia’s path of reconciliation after five decades of bloody conflict.
Even before the deal, Francis had a full plate in seeking to help heal the wounds of Latin America’s longest-running conflict while advancing his own pastoral agenda.
On tap for his 20th foreign trip are expected messages promoting care for the environment, denouncing the drug trade and urging Colombia’s political class to address the economic and social disparities that were at the root of the fighting.
And you can be sure that, somewhere in the mix of messages about the social and political upheaval in Colombia, Pope Francis will utter a strong condemnation of capitalism.
Somehow or other, the United States will be blamed for the conditions in Colombia and the Pope will strongly recommend that America make recompense by opening its borders even wider to refugees and immigrants from Central and South America.
The history of political chaos and anarchy in Colombia is as old as the country itself. It has always been bloody and the Church has not always shown itself to be on the side of the poor and downtrodden.
If the Holy Father, as he rightfully should, is to point out the reasons for the misery in Colombia, he needs first to condemn the corrupt Catholic hierarchy which so often has sided with the rich and powerful forces in the country.
Only then will whatever additional critiques he chooses to make have any credibility and integrity attached to them.
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