On the eve of the conclave in the Vatican, in which the successor of Pope Francis, the Colombian Cardinals Luis José Rueda -who is one of the voters -, Rubén Salazar and Jorge Enrique Jiménez -are attentive to the critical public order situation of Colombia, will be chosen. This Saturday, May 3, they officiated a Mass for the reconciliation and peace of the country, in which members of the Public Force participated.
The Eucharist took place in the chapel of Santa Monica, in the Plaza del Santo Office, and brought together dozens of faithful who raised their prayers for the end of violence and the unity of the South American Nation, where 24 police officers have already been killed in the midst of a gun plan, in which military has also died.
To those who hold weapons “surely love has been missing”
During the homily, Cardinal RuedWe have a snake that has bitten us in Colombian history: drug trafficking, illegal economies that have caused death, which have poisoned many Colombians. That life is respected in Colombia, that life is a dignified life, that life is not disrespected by weapons of violence, terrorism that enlighten so many families. ”
The religious, dismayed by the public order situation in the country, said that there are “many weapons in our country with an economy of death. Hate generates death, love generates life. Where do all these weapons come from? Who makes those weapons? Surely love has lacked them. I would like to address boys and girls from our country, our countrymen who have wielded weapons and have already dedicated themselves to filling with mourning, sadness and tears so many regions of our country. Please stop. We can also offer you the love that can be missing in your heart, in your conscience, that emptiness of love, that void of life. ”
And there was conflict exits, because “the blood of a Colombian is everyone’s blood, of the great family of Colombians. Therefore, remembering our beloved Pope Francis unity.
“We can be getting used to verbal violence” that “hurts us all”
To a specific question about polarization in Colombia, even with offenses issued by President Gustavo Petro himself, Cardinal Rueda said: “Pope Francis taught us the ability to listen, which makes one value the other, that he finds that the other has an argument and has something to contribute, and that I am not owned by the truth in its entire ‘We do not get used to violence’, we can get used to verbal violence within the family, on public stages, to attack us with the word, to slander, to insult, to treat ourselves badly.
They have already reached the Vatican 131 of the 133 that will choose the new Pope
The works to prepare the Sistine chapel for the conclave that will begin on May 7 are accelerated, with the installation of a soil, a stove to burn the secret votes and the chimney that will communicate if there is white smoke. The technicians place scaffolding under the frescoes of Miguel Ángel, as well as a false wooden floor to put on large tables where the 133 cardinals that will vote in the conclave will be installed.
Other workers install in a corner of the chapel the heavy stove that will serve to burn the secret votes. The firefighters climb to the roof of tiles to fix the duct of the famous fireplace that will communicate the result of the conclave: white smoke if the cardinals have already chose Pope and Black smoked otherwise.
Andreas Solaro/AFP
It is a “key stage” for the Catholic Church, says Silvio Screpanti, deputy director of infrastructure of El Vaticano on the official website of this small state. The checks of the stove were made “discreetly” and “in case of necessity” a technician “will remain throughout the time of the voting in a small technical room near the Sistine Chapel, with a remote control of the stove,” he explains, which can now be activated electronically.
The cardinals, after advocating an oath, will sleep in the Vatican, “without contact with their families.” Some of them have already participated in previous conclaves, the others are younger and their most experienced colleagues “will pass over the future.”
According to Screpanti, technicians are also in charge of obscuring “all the windows of the Vatican Palace in the areas destined for the conclave” and the deactivation “of all the technological devices and sensors installed in recent years in the Sistine Chapel.” In addition, “about 200 rooms” are being prepared, with the installation of “partitions, provisional doors and the temporary closure of some windows” to give more privacy.
As for the furniture, “it is the minimum necessary equipment: a bed, nightstick and a closet,” he adds.
Edited by Sandra Soriano Soriano
Digital Journalist News Caracol
[email protected]
*With information from Juan Roberto Vargas, Caracol News Director, and the AFP agency
