VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia (AP) – Pope Francis heads Friday into an area once besieged by leftist rebels to pray with victims of Colombia’s long conflict and urge them to overcome their grief by forgiving their former assailants.
The highlight of his visit to the central city of Villavicencio is what the Vatican has termed a “great prayer meeting for national reconciliation.” It’s bound to be a deeply emotional gathering for Francis, who has made reconciliation the central theme of his five-day visit to Colombia after promising to visit the country upon the signing of last year’s peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
The event will be attended by thousands of victims from all walks of life: soldiers who lost limbs clearing land mines, 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.
Former rebels are also expected to attend but the Vatican and Colombian organizers have given no indication that the FARC leadership will attend, or even meet with the pope during his visit, reflecting the freshness of the conflict’s wounds and the sensitivities stirred by any public appearance of former guerrillas still despised by wide swathes of the population.
Among those attending is Lucrecia Valencia, who lost her husband and son, as well has her own right arm and left leg, when they were going out for firewood near their home. Her town was for years engulfed by violence and she says she wants the world to know that the country’s peace is fragile. She says the land mine that upended her life in 2009 was likely planted by another rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, which remains active in many parts of the country.