Vatican City, Sep 29, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II received bishops from Colombia ending their “ad limina” visit this morning and encouraged them to continue to proclaim the Gospel of justice, peace and reconciliation with their words and witness, in their fight against the “moral deterioration” and violent “attacks on life, freedom, and the dignity of persons,” affecting their country.
The Pope spoke about the “depth of the Christian faith in the country and the dynamism of the apostolic commitment,” highlighting “the growing number of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, the widespread presence of religious institutions, and the existence of many centers of study and formation.”
However, the Pope said that "the increase in moral deterioration [is] present in many different forms and affects the most varied areas of personal, family and social life, thereby undermining the intrinsic importance of moral conduct and putting the authenticity of faith in serious danger.”
He said that the phenomenon was “a result, in part, of ideologies that deny human beings the capacity to clearly know what is right and to put it into practice.”