Pope prays for victims of violence in southwestern Colombia
Pope Leo XIV addressed Spanish‑speaking pilgrims, expressing sorrow over rising violence in southwestern Colombia. He noted at least 26 attacks by rebel groups since last Friday, resulting in dozens of civilian and military casualties. The Pope prayed for victims and urged all to reject violence and choose peace. The violence surge occurs ahead of Colombia's presidential election on May 31, with authorities blaming a specific group.
5 months ago
Pope Leo XIV used his April 29, 2026 General Audience to express sorrow for the surge of violence in southwestern Colombia, praying for the victims and urging all people to reject every form of violence and choose the path of peace 1 2 3 4.
The Holy Father addressed Spanish‑speaking pilgrims, saying he felt “close in prayer to the victims and their families” and called on everyone to “decisively choose the path of peace” 1 2.
He framed the appeal as part of his broader message of peace after recent apostolic journeys, emphasizing solidarity with those suffering 2.
Since the previous Friday, more than two dozen attacks have been carried out against civilians and military sites in the Cauca and Valle del Cauca provinces, including a highway bomb that killed 20‑21 people 1 3 4.
The violence marks the bloodiest civilian massacre in Colombia in over a decade, with 48 massacres and at least 229 deaths recorded since January 2 3.
These attacks occur just before the presidential election scheduled for May 31, intensifying an already tense electoral climate 1 2 3.
Government officials attribute the attacks to the FARC‑EMC, an offshoot of the former FARC guerrilla that rejected the 2016 peace deal and is led by “Iván Mordisco” 1.
OSV News identifies a drug‑trafficking cartel linked to former FARC members, naming rebel leader Iván Jacob Idrobo Arredondo (“Marlon”) as the orchestrator of the April 25 highway bombing 4.
The groups have employed drones, car bombs, kidnappings, and extortion to fund their operations and assert control over drug routes and illegal gold mines 1.
The Colombian bishops’ conference echoed the Pope’s call, urging an end to violence and a peace process grounded in social justice, dialogue, and respect for life 4.
Archbishops Luis Fernando Rodríguez Velásquez (Cali) and Omar Alberto Sánchez Cubillos (Popayán) issued statements expressing grief and pleading for reconciliation 4.
These ecclesial voices reinforce the Pope’s message and highlight the Church’s role in advocating for peace in the region 4.
Analysts suggest the rebel group may be demonstrating its capabilities to influence the upcoming election outcome 1.
The heightened insecurity could affect voter turnout and shape public opinion on security policies, making peace and stability central issues in the May 31 vote 2 3.
"Examine Catholic teaching on nonviolence amid Colombian conflict."
No specific “news_summary” was included in your message. The analysis below therefore examines Catholic teaching on nonviolence as it relates to the Colombian conflict and peace process, drawing strictly from the Catholic sources provided.
Catholic nonviolence is not primarily a strategy of avoiding confrontation; it is a way of being rooted in the dignity of the human person and a Christian understanding of how peace is built. Pope Francis frames active nonviolence as a “style of politics for peace,” urging that “in situations of conflict, let us respect this, our ‘deepest dignity,’ and make active nonviolence our way of life.”
This approach is grounded in Christ’s own teaching and example. Pope Francis explains that Jesus lived in violent times but taught that the “true battlefield… is the human heart,” and that disciples are taught to love enemies and refuse the logic of retaliation (“put away his sword”). He links nonviolence to the Gospel’s “mağna carta” of responding to evil with good, aiming to “break the chain of injustice.”
At the level of social doctrine, Gaudium et Spes describes peace as “an enterprise of justice” requiring continual rebuilding, because human wills are “wounded by sin.” Peace is also “the fruit of love,” and therefore Christians are urged to “do in love what the truth requires.” The Council also “praise[s] those who… renounce the use of violence… and who resort to methods of defense which are otherwise available to weaker parties.”
Catholic teaching treats violence not as neutral “force,” but as a moral evil that violates human dignity and undermines true peace. Pope John Paul II’s appeal during violence in Colombia is direct: it “impels me to condemn once again every form of violence and the violation of human dignity, which is never the way to peace.”
Pope Francis similarly insists that religion cannot be weaponized: “no religion is terrorist,” and “Violence profanes the name of God.” He also states: “The name of God cannot be used to justify violence. Peace alone is holy.”
These lines matter for Colombia because the conflict has involved kidnappings, intimidation, and armed coercion against civilians and the Church. John Paul II specifically mentions the kidnapping of Bishop Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal and a priest, showing the Church’s pastoral response to violence as a defense of the dignity of persons and the protection of the vulnerable.
Catholic nonviolence is not passive resignation. It supports negotiation and justice as the genuinely human path to settle differences—precisely because violence cannot be the final “solution.”
In Pacem in Terris, John XXIII teaches that when states’ interests clash, differences “must be settled in a truly human way, not by armed force nor by deceit or trickery,” requiring “mutual assessment,” “mature and objective investigation,” and “equitable reconciliation.” He also hopes that policy of negotiation will lead nations to recognize “love, not fear” as governing relationships among peoples and nations.
Pope Francis echoes this “anti-retaliation” and justice-centered approach by describing nonviolent peacemaking as credible specifically when victims resist the temptation to retaliate. He further describes nonviolence as an active method of building unity—choosing solidarity and “refus[ing] to discard people” even when conflict is difficult.
The provided USCCB materials situate nonviolence within the Church’s concrete support for Colombia’s peace process—especially the implementation of negotiated agreements and the strengthening of civil society.
The USCCB “Backgrounder on Colombia” highlights the scale of the conflict’s human costs (lives lost and displacement) and explains how peace agreements aim not only to end fighting but also to address underlying social exclusion and impunity. It then emphasizes the Church’s role in peace implementation and urges that aid should “strike an essential balance between assistance to the armed forces and the fortification of civil society,” with all aid conditioned on human rights criteria.
This “balance” aligns with Pope Francis’s view that peacebuilding through active nonviolence is “the natural and necessary complement” to the Church’s efforts to “limit the use of force by the application of moral norms.” In other words, Catholic nonviolence does not deny that there are political realities requiring restraint and law; it insists that peace must be built by moral and constructive means, not merely by coercion.
Nonviolent peacebuilding is also about defending those who work for reconciliation without being targeted. The USCCB backgrounder stresses that the safety of “human and labor rights activists in rural areas” must be ensured, citing reports of assassinations by criminal groups bent on derailing implementation.
This is consistent with the Church’s insistence that peace is “enterprise of justice” and requires respect for dignity and brotherhood, not only cessation of fighting.
A particularly concrete moral-ethical dimension in the Colombian context is the USCCB’s record of opposing fumigation as a method of counter-narcotics. The backgrounder reports that the Colombian bishops have “clear opposition to fumigation,” describing it as destroying legal crops and livestock, contaminating water, and raising serious health concerns for vulnerable civilians. It adds that suspension of fumigation should become “permanent,” and that civilians reliant on illegal crops “must not be left unassisted,” since neglect fuels discontent that fosters violence.
That logic strongly reflects Catholic moral teaching embedded in Gaudium et Spes: peace requires safeguarding personal wellbeing, respecting dignity, and building justice through love.
A recurring misunderstanding is that “nonviolence” means surrender or refusing responsibility. Pope Francis explicitly rejects this: nonviolence is “sometimes taken to mean surrender… and passivity, but this is not the case.” He describes active nonviolence as courageous witness and peacemaking that can achieve real results, including through historical examples of nonviolent struggle.
This matters for Colombia because the conflict has demanded political choices, not merely private moral sentiments. The Church’s approach—as reflected in USCCB materials—is that peace requires sustained work: extending democratic and legal institutions to rural areas, supporting transitional justice mechanisms, and providing humanitarian aid to displaced persons, all oriented toward durable peace rather than temporary ceasefires.
Across the provided Catholic sources, nonviolence in the Colombian context can be summarized as follows:
In short: Catholic teaching presents nonviolence not as weakness but as a justice-based, dignity-centered, and actively peacebuilding response to conflict—one that supports negotiated peace while resisting any strategy that sacrifices civilians, degrades human rights, or seeks peace through coercion alone.