- Title: Pope Francis to beatify a priest and a bishop martyred in Colombia
- Date: 4th September 2017
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MONSIGNOR CARLOS LEAL, SAYING: "The guerrillas also had their eyes on us because sometimes we went to celebrate Mass to the battalion of Reveiz Pizarro (army). We also attended to the soldiers, if they were sick we administered the sacraments, then the guerrilla (ELN) had their suspicions about us, thinking that maybe we were from the army or from some research group or intelligence, but that never happened. The bishop himself was a witness to that, he always preached something that is very dangerous, which is called neutrality." VARIOUS OF ELN LEAFLET WHERE THEY EXPLAIN WHY THEY KILLED BISHOP JARAMILLO (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MONSIGNOR, JORGE UMBERTO ACEVEDO, SAYING: "All of us who knew him, know he was a man absolutely devoted to the cause of the Gospel, and that certainly cost him wrongdoing, misinterpretation - precisely all that led this group, on an unconfirmed basis, to commit the deed."
- Embargoed: 18th September 2017 21:11
- Keywords: Pope Francis Fr Ramirez beatification Bishop Jaramillo Villavivencio Vatican violence Colombia Bishop priest
- Location: BOGOTA / LA PLATA, HUILA / ARAUCA DEPARTMENT, COLOMBIA
- City: BOGOTA / LA PLATA, HUILA / ARAUCA DEPARTMENT, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0096X6LXS7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A priest and a bishop martyred in Colombia will be beatified by Pope Francis during his Sept. 6-10 visit to the country, Vatican sources said recently.
Francis will beatify Bishop Jesus Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve of Arauca, a region neighbouring Venezuela and Father Pedro Maria Ramirez Ramos during a Mass to be held on the Esplanade of Catama in Villavicencio on September 8.
Their beatification was confirmed on July 7 after the Pope signed decrees ratifying the martyrdom of Bishop Jaramillo, who was murdered by Colombia's Marxist ELN rebel group in 1989, according to Vatican sources.
The Colombian bishop, along with one of his parish priests, was kidnapped by members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), because he had spoken out against the atrocities committed by the rebel group.
Bishop Jaramillo was shot twice in the head with an assault rifle in the rural area of Arauquita. His accompanying parish priest - Father Jose Munoz who had refused to leave Bishop Jaramillo's side - was unharmed and released. Munoz found Bishop Jaramillo's body the next day lying on his back in the shape of the cross, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
Vatican sources also reported that Francis acknowledged the martyrdom of Father Ramirez, known as "the martyr of Armero," who was murdered with a machete at the start of the Colombian civil war in 1948.
Francis, making his 20th foreign trip as pontiff and his fifth to his native Latin America, will spend five days in the country, visiting the capital Bogota and the cities of Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena.
The beatification comes as Francis aims to encourage a fledgling peace process that ended half a century of war between a succession of governments and the guerrilla group FARC but has left the country deeply divided. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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