Bogotá, Colombia, Jul 7, 2009 / 18:08 pm
The president of the Bishops’ conference of Colombia, Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez, said this week the issue of life is the “key” for confronting the country’s political, economic, cultural and religious reality.” The issue is especially important since modernity has “a new understanding of life that does not always bring positive consequences has emerged,” he said.
During the opening of the bishops’ 87th plenary assembly, the archbishop criticized the relativism of today’s world that disputes the “value of human life—up to now considered absolute,” and the emergence of values that are at odds with the true meaning of life.
Archbishop Salazar recalled the need to work “for a life of dignity, a life worthy of living,” and he noted with sadness the expansion of “a true culture—or rather—anti-culture of death.”
He went on to reaffirm the bishops’ role in confronting the problems facing Colombia. “We must not forget for one moment that the Church exists to serve in this way just as Christ did.”
For this reason, he said, the bishops will always be attentive to the “cry of all those whose lives are scorned, violated, or eliminated because of the injustice and violence the country is experiencing in general. We will especially heed the voice of those who have no voice in order to be their voice.”
The bishops will travel to the city of Chiquinquira on July 9 for a Mass to launch the Great Continental Mission in Colombia.