Pope preaches forgiveness in former Colombian war zone

In city scarred by fighting, Francis tells residents choices show desire to live in peace

VILLAVICENCIO, COLOMBIA— Pope Francis travelled Friday to an area once besieged by leftist rebels to pray with victims of Colombia’s long conflict, urging them to overcome their grief by forgiving their former assailants.

At an open-air mass in the central city of Villavincencio, Francis praised those who had resisted “the understandable temptation for vengeance” and instead sought out peace. He said their choice in no way legitimized the injustices they suffered, but rather showed a willingness to build a peaceful future together.

“Every effort at peace without sincere commitment to reconciliation is destined to fail,” he warned.

The highlight of his daylong visit was to be what the Vatican has termed a “great prayer meeting for national reconciliation,” bringing victims and victimizers together before a poignant symbol of the conflict: a mutilated statue of Christ rescued from a church destroyed in a rebel mortar attack.

It was bound to be a deeply emotional gathering for Francis, who has made reconciliation the central theme of his five-day trip to Colombia after promising to visit the country upon the signing of last year’s peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The event was drawing thousands of victims from all walks of life: soldiers who lost limbs clearing landmines, mothers whose children were forcibly recruited by the rebels never to be seen again and farmers driven off their land by right-wing paramilitary groups.

While still grieving, many said they had already worked through their sorrow to forgive.

“When you forgive, you still have the scar of the wound, but yes, I have definitely forgiven from my heart,” said Paulina Mahecha, whose daughter disappeared in 2004 while study- ing to be a nurse. Mahecha arrived at the event bearing photos of her daughter, Marina Christina Cobo Mahecha, around her neck and a banner accusing the army, police and paramilitary groups in her disappearance.

She said she had moved beyond her grief with the help of a priest: “Otherwise I would be dead. Forgiveness was not for them, but for me,” she said.

Ahead of the event, the former commander of the FARC published a public letter in which he asked Francis for forgiveness.

“Your frequent reminders about the infinite mercy of God move me to beg for your forgiveness for any tear or pain we’ve caused Colombian society or any of its individuals,” wrote Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko.

In another sign that the pope’s message of reconciliation may be getting through to the deeply polarized nation, the mayor of Medellin confirmed that President Juan Manuel Santos will pray together Saturday at a mass in Colombia’s second-largest city with his predecessor and archrival, President Alvaro Uribe. Previously the two had refused to appear together at any papal events.

The two former allies split over Santos’ signing of a peace deal with the FARC and their feud has hampered the chances of successful implementation of the accord. Francis has tried to bring the two together, sponsoring a face-to-face meeting at the Vatican last December after Uribe led the opposition that narrowly rejected the original accord in a nationwide referendum.

Presiding over the event in Villa- vincencio will be a mutilated Christ statue rescued from a bombed-out church 15 years ago — perhaps the most powerful reminder of the senseless political violence that left more than 250,000 people dead and millions displaced. Several AfroColombian residents of the impoverished town of Bojaya travelled days by boat, plane and bus to bring the modest plaster statue to Villavicencio so it could be blessed by the pope.

The town church was hit and destroyed by a FARC mortar when 300 residents had taken shelter there during a three-way firefight between the rebels, army and the paramilitaries. At least 79 people died and 100 were injured in the 2002 attack.

Today the remote town is a model for reconciliation, having overwhelmingly backed President Juan Manuel Santos’s peace plan.