Colombia’s bishops invite all the parishes of the country to play their bells at 12 (noon) for the National Day of Memory and Solidarity with the victims of the armed conflict in the country, which is commemorated on April 9.
“We invite that, on this commemorative day on April 9, at 12:00 noon, the country’s parishes join with the touch of bells to symbolize our adhesion and commitment to memory and solidarity with the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia,” the bishops point out in a communication Posted on your website.
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The prelates express their proximity to the survivors and join in prayer for the deceased, committing themselves to their effort to achieve “forgiveness, reconciliation and peace”, after more than five decades of an armed conflict that does not cease, despite the 2016 Peace Agreement.
According to the Victims Unit –Which commemorates this date with a central event in Bogotá and with other activities in 20 cities in the country- in Colombia there is a record of almost 10 million affected by the conflict.
In their message the bishops highlight the work of the leaders who work for peace and the victims, highlighting that with their service “each wound is touched with the tenderness of God and healed by the force of solidarity.”
After remembering that this work becomes more important within the framework of the Jubileo de la Esperanza 2025, especially “in the rural areas that have suffered the most the brutality of violence”, the bishops encourage them to implement “listening, dialogue, social justice and commitment in the defense of human rights”.
In this way, they underline, “peaceful coexistence can be achieved, so that violence is never silent.”
National Memory and Solidarity Day with the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia
In accordance with article 142 of the Victims Law, approved in the Legislative Power and sanctioned in 2011, on April 9, memory and solidarity with the victims are commemorated.
This date was chosen, among other reasons, in memory of the murder of liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948, 77 years ago.
For this commemoration, Congress will have today A session in which several representatives of organizations of victims of the armed conflict will be heard.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.