Francis’ six-day visit is widely seen as an attempt to use the moral authority of the Vatican to temper lingering resentment. Father Ramírez and Bishop Jaramillo were two of the war’s most high-profile victims, as clergymen who found themselves in the cross hairs of politics. Father Ramírez came of age during the run-up to the war, when the country’s political factions struggled for control. By his time, the conflict had hardened into a three-way war between Marxist guerrilla groups, paramilitary organizations and the government. Among them was Estéban Cañon, a missionary from the town of Yarumal in northern Colombia, who arrived wearing a shirt bearing Bishop Jaramillo’s picture.

Source: New York Times September 09, 2017 00:42 UTC