Catholic Church pushes rebels, nation to reconcile

LA PAZ, Colombia — The rebel commander approached church workers at a remote camp in northern Colombia with an unusual request.

Four former combatants beginning life as civilians had recently given birth, the first children born to women no longer dodging bombs and bullets in the jungle.

“They are waiting to be baptized,” he explained.

Would the church provide a priest?

In the nine months since Colombia passed a historic peace accord with the nation’s largest rebel group to end Latin America’s long-running conflict, the Roman Catholic Church has emerged as a guiding force in bringing rebels back to civilian life and leading a still-bitter nation toward reconciliation. Pope Francis is expected to build on those efforts during this week’s trip to the South American country.

Priests are celebrating Mass at the rustic camps where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have laid down their arms. Catholic aid workers are helping former guerrillas track down relatives they have not seen in decades. In the rural communities hit hardest by the 53-year conflict, church teams of psychologists and social workers are explaining the peace accord and facilitating encounters with the rebels many mistrust.

“The immediate task is implementing the accords, but the bigger challenge is how to reconcile Colombians,” said the Rev. Dario Echeverri, secretary general of the churchled National Conciliation Commission.

Francis has been one of the chief advocates for peace in this deeply Catholic country, urging leaders for and against the agreement to settle their differences. He will lead a prayer for national reconciliation in the city of Villavicencio, where 6,000 victims from around the country are expected to gather. And he will beatify a Colombian bishop killed in 1989 by guerrillas of the National Liberation Army, another leftist rebel group now negotiating peace.

In total, the conflict left more than 250,000 people dead, 60,000 missing and millions more displaced — wounds that for many cannot be closed with the generous terms offered to rebels under last year’s accord.

A narrow majority of Colombians rejected the agreement in a referendum before it was passed by congress.