NEW SAINTS FOR COLUMBIA

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, is in Columbia this week and yesterday he beatified two martyrs from the country, both of whom were killed in hatred of the faith within the last 60 years.

BL. (BISHOP) JESUS EMILIO JARAMILLO MONSALVE AND FATHER PEDRO MARIA RAMIREZ RAMOS are “a sign of God's presence in Colombia, as promised at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, where it says: “I will be with you always, to the close of the age.” They are “an expression of a people who wish to rise up out of the swamp of violence and bitterness,” the Holy Father said at the Mass.

Bl. Jesus Jaramillo, known for his care of the poor, was a Xaverian Missionary who served as bishop of Arauca. He became a target of the National Liberation Army, a Marxist guerrilla group in Colombia, when he spoke out against their kidnappings and involvement in the drug trade. Members of the guerrilla group kidnapped and killed him on Oct. 2, 1989. He was 73 years old.

Born in La Plata in 1899, Bl. Pedro became priest in 1931. When civil war erupted in Colombia between conservative and liberal groups, he was serving as a pastor in Armero. Local families offered to smuggle him to safety, but the priest refused to abandon his people.

On April 10, 1948, he was dragged out of his church by a group of rebels, who accused him of hiding weapons for conservatives. They lynched him in the town square. He died forgiving his killers.

The Holy Father said the two martyrs are an example of what it means to make reconciliation concrete. “The most powerful protagonists in the peace-building process are those people who have been victims of violence themselves, but have overcome the temptation to act with vengeance.

What is needed is for some to courageously take the first step in that direction, without waiting for others to do so. We need only one good person to have hope! And each of us can be that person!”

“Every effort at peace without a sincere commitment to reconciliation is destined to fail.”