"The CPN is a much-needed way to support the courageous and mostly unheralded efforts of the Church to build peace in war-torn countries from Central Africa to Southern Asia."

Bishop John Ricard
Chairman, U.S. Bishops' International Policy Committee

"The CPN is a space of exchange, encounter and discovery where we help each other understand our peace-work, generated in faith and actualized in history."

Andrea Bartoli
Community of Sant' Egidio,
USA

"CPN is another concrete way of building solidarity among peacebuilders around the world. The energy that it will bring will help us in facing the many difficult challenges of peacebuilding work in our different contexts. My hope is that we are able to bring the same energy eventually to the communities directly affected by war, violence and conflict - creating not only a network of peacebuilders but more imoprtantly a network of communities all over the world."

Myla Leguro
Peace & Reconciliation
Program Manager
CRS-Phillippines

Overview of Colombian Conflict -- The Catholic Church's Role in Peacebuilding --          

  Internal Displacement -- Human Rights -- Social and Economic Development --

Peace Processes -- Education for Peace -- Reconciliation -- International Solidarity

The Catholic Church in Colombia

The Catholic Church is a vocal and committed actor in the struggle for a negotiated and just peace in Colombia. The legitimacy, organizational capacity, resources and leadership of the Catholic Church in Colombia have enabled the Church to bring together conflicting sectors of Colombian society and mobilize and empower the Colombian people to search for paths to lasting peace. Church leaders have been engaged at every level of peacebuilding, from the official peace processes to grassroots initiatives.  The guiding values of the Catholic Church in its peacebuilding ministry in Colombia are the respect for all life and the protection of human dignity. The Church’s mission in Colombia is dedicated to proclaiming the gospel of peace. 

The Colombian Conference of Bishops (Conferencia Episcopal Colombiana, CEC) insists that a true peace to the armed conflict must honor memory and truth, justice and reparation, and must be reached through a process that respects life and the dignity of each person.  The Church decries violence and militarization as a desecration of the human person and a threat to the human community. The Catholic Church in Colombia advocates for full compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law.

The Church has always advocated for negotiation rather than a military victory over the guerrillas and the paramilitaries and argues that lasting peace cannot be achieved through an imposed agreement from above.  Rather, the process of negotiation must involve the entire Colombian society through dialogue and reconciliation. Moreover, a just peace must address the underlying social and economic inequities fueling the conflict. The poor and marginalized groups such as Afro-Colombians, the indigenous, women and youth must gain full participation in Colombian society.  Many of the Church’s social ministries are dedicated to the poor and marginalized who bear the brunt of the violence.

For an excellent comprehensive overview of the Church's peacebuilding activities, see the articles:

Como construir paz en tiempos de guerra?
Olga Consuelo Velez Caro

The Colombian Church and Peacebuilding

Msgr. Hector Fabio Henao Gaviria

Chapter from “Colombia: Building Peace in a Time of War,” edited by Virginia M. Bouvier, United States Institute of Peace Press (forthcoming)

Lessons Learned in Peacebuilding in Colombia:  Reflections from the Perspective of the Social Ministries/Caritas

Msgr. Hector Fabio Henao Gaviria

Peace Mobilization in Colombia and the Role of the Roman Catholic Church
Mauricio Garcia Duran

Fr. Dario Echeverri, The Catholic Church and the Peace Process (Paper in Spanish)

The Church and Armed Groups

Bishop Leonardo Gomez Serna, Diocese of Magangué (Remarks in Spanish)