- Title: Pope Francis addresses Colombians upon arrival
- Date: 7th September 2017
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (SEPTEMBER 6, 2017) (REUTERS) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT, JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, AT PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT, JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, SAYING: "And, the message that the Holy Father brings is a message that we Colombians receive with emotion and with a great feeling of responsibility. He comes to push us, to give us the first step to what he himself has called the first step to reconciliation after so many years of war and so much violence, so much conflict. This is what we Colombians need and who better than the Holy Father to stimulate us to take that first step." SANTOS AT NEWS CONFERENCE WITH HIS WIFE, MARIA CLEMENCIA RODRIGUEZ MUNERA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT, JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, SAYING: "A child went to give (the Pope) a dove, this child, I explained to the Holy Father, that he is the son of war, the son of a great person, Clara Rojas, who was kidnapped for many years and had her son there, when her son was freed, it was a really moving story what happened, what was behind the liberation of this child and later his mother. But, this symbolizes what we're going through in Colombia - a child that was born in war, but who now has all the opportunities to grow up in peace." SANTOS AND HIS WIFE EXIT STAGE SANTOS GREETS JOURNALISTS COVERING THE POPE'S VISIT
- Embargoed: 21st September 2017 02:02
- Keywords: Pope Francis papal visit to Colombia Juan Manuel Santos Bogota
- Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- City: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0066XLI6VB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Pope Francis arrived in Colombia on Wednesday (September 6) with a message of unity for a nation deeply divided by a peace deal that ended a five-decade war with Marxist FARC rebels but left many victims of the bloodshed wary of the fraught healing process.
References to the recent peace deal were immediate. A teenage boy, born in 2004 to vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas when she was held captive in the jungle by the FARC, handed Francis a white porcelain dove as a welcome present.
On his drive to the Vatican Embassy in central Bogota, the leader of the world's Roman Catholics was mobbed in the 'pope mobile' by screaming crowds tossing flowers and holding up children to be kissed.
Trumpet players, singing children and white-clad rappers greeted the pope - wearing a traditional woolen poncho - at the embassy where he urged young people to "keep smiling" and then led the crowd in the Hail Mary prayer.
"Don't let anyone steal your hope," he said.
Francis, making his 20th foreign trip since becoming pontiff in 2013 and his fifth to his native Latin America, started his visit in Colombian capital Bogota. He will travel later in the week to the cities of Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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