Religion key to peace in Colombia says Vatican

Cardinal Parolin in Colombia

As Colombia signed a treaty ending a 52-year civil war yesterday, the Vatican's Secretary for State said religion had a vital role in keeping the peace.

"The root causes of this conflict which in recent decades has torn apart this country can be found in the wounds of the heart," declared Cardinal Pietro Parolin, as he preached from the Church of St Peter Claver, in Cartagena de Indias. "Religion," he remarked, "leads to listening, to understanding and to recognising the reasons for and the value of the other." Faith is opposed, he stressed, to hurting the dignity of a fellow human being.

Some 220,000 Colombians were murdered and a further five million forcibly ejected off their land in the five-decade conflict between the Colombian state and the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Yesterday, President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC leader Timochenko signed a peace treaty - with a pen made from a bullet - in the city of Cartagena de Indias. The date was significant: September 27th is the feast of St Peter Claver, a Jesuit who rescued African slaves shipped into 17th century Cartagena. President Santos hailed St Claver as "a great champion of human rights," reflecting the major public role the Church in Colombia has played in sealing the peace deal.

Both the FARC and the Government of Colombia asked the Church to mediate between them and some eight million registered victims of the conflict. In 2015, the Colombian Church brought 12 groups of 60 victims to Cuba, seat of the peace talks. They spoke of their suffering face to face with representatives of the state and the FARC.

Yesterday Cardinal Parolin said he hoped the peace treaty would "ease the pain of those many people who have been humiliated and oppressed by the violence [of the conflict]" and that it would "stop hatred, and change the course of history to build a better future with strong and just institutions."

His words were backed by the Archbishop of Tunja, Monsignor Luis Augusto Castro, the President of Colombia's Bishops' Conference. He said: "We now need to re-build Colombia - a project that will be like starting a house from scratch. The cement will be ethics and spiritual renewal:forgiveness and reconciliation."

"We need politics that include the poor and an economy based on the values of solidarity." He added that this vision "inspired by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace" is based on "the firm founda-tion of the Gospel."

The people of Colombia are due to ratify the peace treaty next Sunday, October 2nd.