Pope Francis urged Colombia's government and Marxist
FARC guerrillas on Sunday to ensure that nearly three years of peace
talks in Cuba are successful and end their "long night" of war.
"Please,
we do not have the right to allow ourselves yet another failure on this
path of peace and reconciliation," the Argentine pontiff said in an
address at the end of a Mass he celebrated in Havana's Revolution
Square.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has
staked his reputation on reaching a pact with the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC) to end Latin America's longest insurgency,
which has killed some 220,000 people and displaced millions over 50
years.
"May the blood shed by thousands of innocent
people during long decades of armed conflict, united to that of the Lord
Jesus Christ crucified, sustain all the efforts being made, including
those on this beautiful island, to achieve definitive reconciliation,"
Pope Francis said.
"Thus may the long night of pain
and violence, with the support of all Colombians, become an unending day
of concord, justice, fraternity and love, in respect for institutions
and for national and international law, so that there may be lasting
peace."
At the negotiations in Havana, Santos'
government and the FARC have reached partial agreements on land reform,
an end to drug trafficking, political participation for ex-rebels and
efforts to remove land mines. Discussions on victim reparations and
demobilisation are ongoing.
If they can reach a comprehensive peace deal, it would be placed before Colombian voters for approval.
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