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The Role of Religion in Colombia’s Reconciliation

By CH (MAJ) John M. Sedwick

Operations/Plans Chaplain, Army South

The opinions expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not reflect or represent 

the official position or policy of the United States Army or the United States Army Chaplain 

Corps.

Introduction

As the decades-long conflict between the Colombian military and the Fuerzas Armadas 

Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) comes to an end, the reconciliation process between these

two warring factions presents a multitude of challenges. As Colombia’s national government 

attempts to expand its reach from urban areas into vast swaths of previously ungoverned rural 

territory, military, law enforcement and social services personnel will encounter a newly minted 

demilitarized zone populated by indigenous peoples suffering from illiteracy, poverty and the 

ravages of civil war. The end of the Colombian conflict instantly presents new priorities for 

national and regional leaders including the creation of infrastructure, the establishment of law 

and order, and the reintegration of rebel warriors into Colombian society. The Colombian 

government will call upon a vast array of forces including Non-Governmental Organizations

(NGOs) to tackle the many obstacles that threaten to derail a lasting reconciliation between 

government and rebel forces—and indeed between the dramatically different populations of 

urban and rural Colombia. This paper addresses the role that organized religion can play in this 

daunting process that includes repentance, forgiveness and ultimately, reconciliation. 

The Ministry of Reconciliation
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This sacramental journey in Colombia reflects Saint Paul’s admonishment to the 

Christian church in Corinth to reconcile with one another and to live in peace as the body of 

Christ. Paul wrote these healing words of comfort to a deeply divided Corinthian church in the 

first century: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; 

behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and

gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, 

not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”1

The Soft Power of the Sacraments in Conflict Resolution

Does the Apostle Paul’s message about the ministry of reconciliation from the First 

Century imply that religion has a role to play in bringing an end to the Colombian civil war and 

then in helping the various warring factions to forgive one another and live in peace? Does 

religion matter when it comes to negotiating peace treaties and restoring broken relationships? 

Gerard Powers, who serves as the Coordinator for the Catholic Peacebuilding Network and the 

Director of Policy Studies for the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the 

University of Notre Dame, believes that politicians and diplomats who ignore or downplay the 

impact of religious values on society by definition fail to consider religion as part of the solution 

to resolve conflicts. “Unfortunately, policymakers, whether in the U.S. government or the United 

Nations, have not paid enough attention to—and do not always fully understand—the other 

aspect of the ambivalence of the sacred.”2 

 

1 2 Cor. 5:17-19 (English Standard Version).

2 Gerard Powers, “Peacebuilding: A Role for Religion” (paper presented at the Holy See Side Event, United Nations, 

New York, NY, October 7,2008).
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Indeed if the “ambivalence of the sacred” had been considered as part of a Religious Area 

Analysis conducted by military chaplains prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom, perhaps mission 

planners would have pondered the impact of toppling a Sunni dictator who had ruled the 

majority Shia population with an iron hand for many years. Instead, U.S. military leaders, policy 

makers and diplomats placed a greater emphasis on the anticipated positive political impact of 

Saddam Hussein’s removal rather than focus upon the potential second and third order effects of 

a Shia majority population exacting revenge upon the Sunni minority that had stifled their 

religious freedom. As Powers states, “What is needed is not less religion, as some policymakers 

suggest. What is needed is more religion, more authentic religion.”3 

This concept of “more authentic religion” infers that the Roman Catholic Church in 

Colombia should not endeavor to replace or even imitate an NGO, but rather should emphasize 

the unique blessings it brings to the peacebuilding table. “Religion plays this indispensable role 

in peacebuilding when its three main assets—its beliefs, its transnational institutional resources, 

and its ability to influence and mobilize people—are put to work in an integrated way.”4 The 

location of parishes in rural Colombian villages and the capacity of the Roman Catholic Church 

to leverage support from NGOs and Catholic charities places it in a unique position to help in the 

reconciliation process. 

 

3

 Powers, “Peacebuilding: A Role for Religion.”

4

Powers, “Peacebuilding: A Role for Religion.”

5 Powers, “Peacebuilding: A Role for Religion.”
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“In parts of Colombia, especially in rural areas, there are Catholic parishes with 

demobilized right-wing paramilitaries, left-wing guerillas, and government soldiers—and 

returning displaced people who have been victimized by all three. Pastors in these parishes are 

using the resources provided by Caritas Colombia, Catholic Relief Services, and the UN 

Development Program and other international agencies, to help with the long-term process of 

rehabilitation of that fractured community.”5

Gerard Powers effectively communicates the reality that the Roman Catholic Church in 

Colombia—while working alongside NGOs and Catholic charities—must not neglect its primary

role to offer Word and Sacrament ministry to all former combatants and their victims to truly 

bring about genuine reconciliation. This represents the soft power of the sacraments. 

“That pastor must also help his parish realize its mission in its deepest religious and 

spiritual sense. He must, for example, help his parishioners internalize the true meaning—

including the communal meaning—of the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Communion in 

their conflict-torn community. That is the kind of ‘soft power’ that political scientists talk about, 

which gives the Church in Colombia hope that it can help create a culture of peace to replace the 

culture of violence that is the predictable result of decades of war.”6

The Impact of Liberation Theology on the Colombian Conflict

One of the primary obstacles in transforming Colombian society from a culture of 

violence to a culture of peace consists of the pervasive influence of Liberation Theology on 

certain populations of the guerilla fighters. Although the Roman Catholic Church in Colombia 

has played a pivotal role in the reconciliation process, it must still overcome the perception of 

perpetual collusion with the Colombian government, which led to the development of Liberation 

Theology as a powerful propaganda tool for rebel insurgency movements. Ironically, the 

emergence of Liberation Theology as an unintended consequence from the Second Vatican 

Council initiative to combat poverty in Latin America actually fanned the flames of rebellion 

 

6 Powers, “Peacebuilding: A Role for Religion.”
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against the Colombian government and the Roman Catholic Church—especially among the 

members of the radical group Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) who deliberately connected 

the class warfare in rural Colombian communities to the earthly ministry of Jesus to the poor. 

“Thus, liberation theology’s belief that one can be liberated by helping oppressed social classes 

achieve their aspirations and, moreover, that such action can and should be achieved by political 

activism, ensured the ELN was infused with a militant form of religious social consciousness."7

Unfortunately, the post-Vatican II zeal to eradicate poverty in Latin America quickly 

collided with the harsh reality that an emotionally vulnerable laity—often encouraged by wellintentioned Roman Catholic priests—manipulated the message to create an anti-government and 

antichurch propaganda. “The spirit of the Second Vatican Council, with its emphasis on a social 

gospel and subsequent ‘preferential option for the poor,’ combined with an aggressive antiestablishment posture, informed the worldview of these militant priests and their organization.”8

Indeed in the eyes of many impoverished, uneducated Colombians living in rural areas, the 

Colombian government and the Roman Catholic Church intentionally and deliberately conspired 

together to dominate the poor and oppressed. “In the past, Colombia’s Catholic Church 

exemplified the Christendom model of the intertwining of church, state, and society, and 

Colombia’s Church remains one of the most powerful in Latin America.”9

Although the FARC does not share the ELN’s passion for liberation theology nor 

considers it as its ideological center of gravity, their leadership has exploited the symbiotic 

relationship between the Colombian government and the Roman Catholic Church to foment 

 

7

 “Colombia: Religious Actors Inspiring Reconciliation,” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, 

September 15, 2013, accessed October 12, 2015, http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/classroom.

8 Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. “Colombia: Religious Actors Inspiring Reconciliation.”

9 Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. “Colombia: Religious Actors Inspiring Reconciliation.”
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resentment against both institutions among the ethnic minority populations who live in rural 

Colombia. “The FARC’s strength lies not just in military force but in popular rural resentment 

against wealthier (urban) Colombians.”10 This popular rural resentment emboldened the FARC 

and forced the Colombian government to cede control of vast areas of the Colombian 

countryside to FARC authority.

“The government allowed the FARC to exert formal control over large safe zones during 

negotiations in the late 1990s, but when four years of negotiations failed to produce results, the 

incoming administration of President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) opted for a hardline military 

approach that disbanded the demilitarized zone and registered numerous successes.”11

Translating Military Success into Reconciliation among Colombians

Even though the Colombian government temporarily allowed the FARC to operate with 

impunity in rural portions of the country during the 1990s, the Roman Catholic Church did not 

cease to provide Word and Sacrament ministry to its parishioners in those areas and often 

catholic clergy, nuns and lay leaders became casualties of war. “Church leaders have been 

assassinated and threatened, congregations and parishes have been displaced, and churches have 

been closed because of violence.”12 In a very real sense, the suffering endured by priests, nuns 

and other church officials has placed the local parish in rural Colombia in a unique position to 

offer support to the thousands of displaced victims of the civil war. 

“At the local level, too, the churches are providing legal, psychological, physical, and spiritual 

support to victims, especially to the displaced and most vulnerable. They have sought ways to 

help communities honor and dignify victims, support conscientious objectors, provide sanctuary, 

 

10 Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. “Colombia: Religious Actors Inspiring Reconciliation.”

11 Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. “Colombia: Religious Actors Inspiring Reconciliation.”

12 Virginia Bouvier, “Colombian Churches, Faith Groups Engage to Urge Peace,” The Olive Branch (blog), July 2, 

2013, accessed October 12, 2015, http://www.usip.org/olivebranch/colombian-churches-faith-groups-engageurge-peace.
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engage in prayer and action for peace, and promote truth, justice, reparations, and 

reconciliation.”13

Reintegration of Rebel Fighters

In spite of the enduring presence of the Roman Catholic parish in rural Colombia and the 

willingness of the priests, nuns and lay leaders to facilitate the above-listed means of attaining 

reconciliation, the greatest obstacle remains the reluctance of former rebel fighters to reintegrate 

into their former communities. 

“However, former combatants have historically struggled to reintegrate into Colombian civil 

society in a stable and enduring fashion. As a consequence, many of them end up contributing to 

a different threat to stability, what the Government of Colombia calls ‘new emerging criminal 

bands,’ which are disproportionately comprised of ‘demobilized’ former illegal fighters and are 

deeply involved in the pervasive Colombian narco-networks.”14

The failure to reintegrate, however, does not lie exclusively at the feet of the former rebel 

fighters. 

“Social reconciliation does not play a significant role, in communities where the open wounds of 

conflict fester and the related identities strongly determine willingness to receive former 

combatants. Extreme prejudice and even vengeance violence creates a major hurdle for stable 

reintegration.”15

Colombian Women as a Combat Force Multiplier for Peace

Although Colombian attitudes on the traditional roles of men and women reflect the 

societal values of Latin America emphasizing male leadership in the household and workplace, 

 

13 Bouvier, “Colombia: Religious Actors Inspiring Reconciliation.”

14 “Bridging the Political and Religious Spheres in Support of Peacemaking,” International Center for Religion and 

Diplomacy, accessed October 12, 2015, http://icrd.org/colombia/.

15 International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. “Bridging the Political and Religious Spheres in Support of 

Peacemaking.”
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Colombian women of faith—especially those who reside in rural areas—will ultimately play a 

pivotal role in the reconciliation process. 

“The roles of women and religious institutions in the fabric of Colombian society are somewhat 

unique, extending across the deep divisions that the violence has produced. In rural and 

peripheral urban areas, where many former combatants return, women and men tend to have 

more sharply defined social roles. These roles, however, often permit women more freedom to 

engage one another across conflict lines, and more liberty to raise challenges to fixed positions 

than their higher-profile male counterparts might.”16

One of these “more sharply defined social roles” that Colombian women have assumed 

during the civil war consists of serving as the sole adult leader of the family because their 

husbands never returned from the battlefield. “In many cases in Colombia, women represent 

entire communities as heads-of-households, where the men have either been killed or joined the 

combatants.”17 And how will these women of faith participate in the national healing process and 

with whom will they reconcile? “Importantly, a significantly higher proportion of women form 

the ranks of the guerillas than they did in the previously demobilized paramilitaries. These 

demobilized female combatants will have different needs than their male counterparts.”18

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has established a 300-member ecumenical 

group of women peacebuilders (Spanish acronym, GemPaz) to equip and empower Colombian 

women to not only reconcile with demobilized female combatants, but also to shape the healing 

process of the Colombian people, to bridge the gap between urban and rural communities. 

“Women of faith have a special place in cementing the peace. In GemPaz’s work, the women’s 

shared spiritual approach has allowed communication across class, political and geographic lines 

 

16 International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. “Bridging the Political and Religious Spheres in Support of 

Peacemaking.”

17 International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. “Bridging the Political and Religious Spheres in Support of 

Peacemaking.”

18 International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. “Bridging the Political and Religious Spheres in Support of 

Peacemaking.”
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that can create a model for the rest of Colombian society in a post-conflict setting.”19 The 

GemPaz overarching strategy for a “shared spiritual approach” emphasizes rehabilitation over 

retribution, sacramental healing over hatred. “The mechanisms used by GemPaz to promote 

peacebuilding include psycho-social healing and restorative justice, a system of rehabilitating 

offenders through reconciliation with victims and communities rather than with punishment.”20

The members of GemPaz have turned to the church and its established theological 

standing as “sacred space” to facilitate the reconciliation process. 

“The group’s work involves arranging use of church spaces where people affected by 

violence, both as victims and aggressors, can meet and unburden themselves. They are partnering 

with other women to restore the social fabric at the community level and encouraging efforts to 

rebuild relations between government institutions and social organizations that have been 

fractured by armed conflict. They’re making a priority of developing local leaders and helping 

them strengthen their abilities to deal with individual victims, perpetrators and communities.”21

Conclusion

The Roman Catholic Church and other organized religious bodies and ecumenical 

councils have greatly contributed to the peace process achieved thus far in the cessation of the 

Civil War in Colombia. As the Colombian government now endeavors to extend its influence 

into rural communities previously controlled by the FARC, it must shift its focus to the 

reconciliation and reintegration of guerilla fighters with Colombian military and police force 

members and between all fighters and the multitude of victims who have lost loved ones in the 

 

19 Fred Strasser, “Colombia: Religious Women Prepare for Reconciliation After War,” The Olive Branch (blog), July 

30, 2015, accessed October 12, 2015, http://www.usip.org/olivebranch/2015/07/30/colombia-religious-womenprepare-reconciliation-after-war.

20 Strasser, “Colombia: Religious Women Prepare for Reconciliation After War.”

(Strasser 2015)

21 Strasser, “Colombia: Religious Women Prepare for Reconciliation After War.”

(Strasser 2015)
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conflict. The Colombian government must work with NGOs and the Roman Catholic Church to 

help the thousands of residents of rural Colombia who have been displaced from their homes 

during the lengthy civil war. The Roman Catholic Church will continue to play a significant role

in this ministry of reconciliation by emphasizing the soft power of the sacraments of Holy 

Communion and Confession and Absolution and by offering its “sacred spaces” for former 

enemies to meet and seek forgiveness. Colombian women from various faith groups who 

comprise GemPaz will continue to assist in the healing process by their fervent encouragement 

for female guerilla fighters to reconcile with their neighbors who lost husbands and children in 

the conflict.
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Bibliography

Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. "Colombia: Religious 

Actors Inspiring Reconciliation." Religion and Conflict Case Study Series, 

2013: 4.

Bouvier, Virginia M. "The Olive Branch." USIP Web site. July 2, 2013.

http://www.usip.org/olivebranch/colombian-churches-faith-groups-engageurge-peace (accessed October 12, 2015).

"International Center for Religion and Diplomacy." Bridging the Political and 

Religious Spheres in Support of Peacemaking. n.d. http://icrd.org/colombia/ 

(accessed October 12, 2015).

Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009.

Powers, Gerard. Peacebuilding: A Role for Religion. Holy See Side Event, South 

Bend: Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame 

University, 2008.

Strasser, Fred. "Colombia: Religious Women Prepare for Reconciliation After 

War." 07 30, 2015. http://www.usip.org/olivebranch (accessed October 12, 

2015).
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