In a country and a continent often infamous for chauvinistic attitudes towards women, Pope Francis called Colombians on it Friday, insisting that the Gospel story itself is a commentary on a world in which “psychological, verbal and physical violence towards women is so evident.”
After celebrating a Mass for a crowd estimated by the local mayor at 1.3 million, Pope Francis met with five bishops from Venezuela on Thursday. The encounter lasted just 10 minutes, but participants said it was enough to update the pontiff about the country’s worsening situation.
Pope Francis had a packed first full day in Colombia, with a roller-coaster of emotions for locals, more than a million of whom waited the entire day, under the rain, to participate in the first Mass he celebrated here.
Human life must be protected at all its stages, but especially when it’s most fragile, Pope Francis said on Thursday at an open-air Mass that gathered a crowd estimated at 1.1 million people by the office of the mayor of Bogotá, Colombia’s capital.
During his first official address on his visit to Colombia, Pope Francis told civil authorities to work to resolve structural causes of poverty that lead to exclusion and violence.
For the young, the pope said while addressing some 22,000 youth in Colombia, it’s easy to encounter each other, needing only a coffee or a drink as an excuse, knowing that the culture of encounter is not about agreeing on every thought. “Rather, [it is] in knowing that beyond our differences we are all part of something greater that unites and transcends us; we are part of this wonderful country.”
Pope Francis greets Colombian bishops in Bogota, Colombia, Sept. 7, telling them that he has “come to proclaim Christ, and to undertake a journey of peace and reconciliation in his name.”
Pope Francis greets and blesses the faithful of Colombia from the balcony of Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez’s residence in Bogota, Sept. 7.
Pope Francis will be the third pope to visit the Latin American nation after Blessed Paul VI and St. John Paul II. The previous papal visit there was 31 years ago in 1986.
I come to Columbia following in the footsteps of my predecessors, Blessed Paul VI and Saint John Paul II. Like them, I am moved by the desire to share with my Colombian brothers and sisters the gift of faith, which put down its roots so strongly in these lands, and the hope which beats in the hearts of everyone.
