Pope arrives as FARC rebrands

BOGOTA: Pope Francis was ready to use his first full day in Colombia to send a message of unity, planting a tree of peace and saying a Mass to preach reconciliation in a nation bitterly divided after five decades of war.

Pope Francis received a tumultuous welcome on Wednesday afternoon. Screaming crowds mobbed the popemobile carrying the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics as it made its way slowly from the airport to the Vatican Embassy in central Bogota.

Pope Francis, making his 20th foreign trip since becoming pontiff in 2013 and his fifth to his native Latin America, was due to spend all of yesterday in Bogota and then make day visits to the cities of Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena before leaving for Rome on Sunday.

The Argentine pope will hold private meetings with President Juan Manuel Santos and Catholic bishops. He will also meet bishops from Venezuela, which has gone through months of protests against President Nicolas Maduro, who has tightened his hold on power amid an escalating economic crisis.

Former fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), now a civilian political party, hope to use words instead of weapons to change Colombia.

Pope Francis will encourage reconciliation for Colombians as they prepare to receive 7,000 former FARC rebels into society and aim to repair divisions after a war that killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.