Peace Archives

Pope’s trip to Colombia felt like a victory lap for an entire nation

Although some feared going in that Pope Francis’s Sept. 6-11 trip to Colombia could actually worsen divisions in the country over a controversial peace deal rather than promoting reconciliation, in the end the jubilant swing through four cities felt like a victory lap for the entire nation and its capacity to build a different kind of future.

World cannot remain silent to indifference, hatred, pope says

Pope Francis said religions must “respond to this thirst, to identify and, together with all men and women of goodwill, to pave tirelessly new paths of peace” through prayer and by humble, concrete and constructive efforts. His remarks were in a message to the International Meeting of Prayer for Peace taking place in Germany.

Want peace? Teach kids how to dialogue, archbishop says

Archbishop Bernadito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, told the High-Level Forum on a Culture of Peace in New York City that schools should educate children on civil discourse, or what Pope Francis calls a “grammar of dialogue.”

Pope Francis’s 5-step plan for lasting Colombian peace
- News Analysis, Pope in Colombia
- September 9, 2017
Francis’s responses yesterday to people who had suffered in Colombia’s 50-year conflict were carefully crafted to contain five key elements for the country to move ahead on the path of peace. They apply not just to Colombia but to any post-conflict context.
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Ahead of Colombia visit, Pope says world needs builders of peace, dialogue
- Catholic News Agency, Pope in Colombia, Vatican
- September 5, 2017
In a video message to Colombians ahead of his Sept. 6-11 trip to the country, Pope Francis said Peace is something Colombia has been searching for and working at for many years. And it’s not just any peace, but “a stable, durable peace to see each other and treat each other as brothers, never as enemies.”
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As Pope Francis heads to Colombia, will third time be the charm?
- Pope in Colombia, Vatican
- September 4, 2017
Pope Francis heads to Colombia this week, Latin America’s third most populous nation after Brazil and Mexico, and one item above all looms on his to-do list — encouraging a process of reconciliation to end a bloody, decades-long civil war. A peace deal designed to do just that remains deeply controversial in Colombia, so Francis will have to walk a tightrope in getting his message across.
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