Colombian bishops discuss with President Petro their role in peace process with guerillas

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 7, 2025 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

In a meeting this week between the leadership of the Colombian Catholic Church and President Gustavo Petro, the bishops reiterated their commitment to peace and reconciliation in the country.

The meeting, held on March 4 at Casa de Nariño, the seat of the Colombian government, addressed crucial issues such as accompanying negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN, by its Spanish acronym), creating an ethical framework for peace, and the importance of religious freedom.

The ELN was formed in the 1960s, influenced by the Cuban Revolution. The guerilla movement espouses Marxist-Leninist ideology combined with liberation theology. Its methods include kidnapping for ransom, extortion, and direct clashes with government forces. In recent years it has been heavily involved in drug trafficking. In the past, some Catholic priests, exponents of liberation theology, were involved in the armed band.

In accompanying the peace talks the Church is not a participant, mediator, or simply an observer but with its presence is ready to assist in any way it can to bring about the desired peace.

The president of the bishops’ conference, Archbishop Francisco Javier Múnera, highlighted the openness of the government and the willingness of the Church to explore new possibilities to reactivate peace talks, emphasizing that the expectations of the communities must be at the center of this process.

In addition to Múnera, the conference’s vice president, Archbishop Gabriel Ángel Villa Vahos, and secretary-general Bishop Germán Medina Acosta also attended.

On behalf of the government, Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia and the director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic, Angie Lizeth Rodríguez, also participated.

“We told the president that our contribution to peace and reconciliation in the country is in the name of the communities we serve and to whom we owe ourselves. Of course, it is also our mission and mandate from the Gospel, from the pastoral mission that we have,” Múnera said in a video published on the conference website.

The bishops also reiterated the commitment of the Catholic Church to accompany “perhaps the only national interface that currently exists between the government and the ELN at a time when the government is going through special difficulties.”

Múnera reported that during the meeting with the president it was emphasized that the expectations and hopes of the communities must be the central point in the search for peace.

“As a conference we are in the process of building an ethical framework for peace to establish our vision, our criteria, our principles. Let us also say our nonnegotiable principles,” he said.

“There are some basic, fundamental requirements of the right to dignity, human rights, international humanitarian law. If this is not respected minimally, then what is the point of being part of an accompanying presence?” he asked.

Múnera reminded that the Church participates in the talks as a facilitator and not as a negotiator. It is very important “to clarify what our position will be at a table where the interlocutors have a political status,” he explained.

In the video, the president of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference said the meeting also addressed “the need to foster dialogue in other areas that are of interest to the country and to the Church,” such as religious freedom.

The prelate explained that, while respecting other denominations in an ecumenical climate, the Church wishes to “have a much more significant seat.”

He clarified that they are not demanding privileges “but simply asserting the rights that we have as a confession, as a church, as a Catholic communion.”

In this regard, he said the right of parents to choose religious education for their children must “be guaranteed by the state.”

Múnera stated that they found “a great deal of openness” on the part of the political authorities.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262623/colombian-bishops-discuss-with-president-petro-their-role-in-peace-process-with-guerillas