Bogotá, Colombia, Oct 4, 2016 / 14:39 pm
After Colombian voters narrowly rejected a peace deal with the FARC rebels on Sunday, the Archbishop of Tunja encouraged the nation's faithful to "continue to pray and work" for peace, since "before all else, it is a gift, a grace of God."
A peace agreement was signed Sept. 26 to end the 52-year conflict between the Colombian government and the Marxist rebel group, but was submitted to a referendum Oct. 2 to be ratified. In that plebiscite, 50.2 percent of voters rejected the peace deal.
Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga, who is president of the Colombian bishop' conference, told CNA that "as the Church, it is our part to continue to invite all Colombians to pray for peace, because peace before all else is a gift, a grace of God and also our task. So we must continue praying and working."
He added that the Church in Colombia invited "all Colombians to vote, and to vote conscientiously, reflecting, trying to understand what you were doing. Naturally, we did not insinuate how one should vote."