Archbishop Renato Martino today helped launch the 2nd Congress of National Reconciliation, being held in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s encyclical «Pacem in Terris.»
A statement published this morning by the Council for Justice and Peace explains that the congress, being held through Wednesday, has been promoted by National Secretariat of Social Pastoral Care of Colombia, a country «bloodied by a social conflict that has lasted for many years.»
«Its objective is to identify strategies for the construction of a new country, keeping in mind not only the settings of the political conflict, but also those of a possible post-conflict, the situation of the victims of armed confrontations, social exclusion, impoverishment and the injustices of the new economic and political order.»
Archbishop Alberto Giraldo Jaramillo of Medellin has convoked his clergy to participate in a meeting Thursday on the situation in Colombia.