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A Colombian Government Commission on Tuesday is meeting is with the NO Vote Camp, which refused the Peace Referendum. 

Listen to the report by James Blears: 

The Commission leadership includes Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin and Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas.  It`s third senior member is Humberto De La Calle...the Government`s Chief Peace Negotiator.  He`s  offered to resign, following the NO vote by the majority of the Colombian people. Instead he`s been sent back to Cuba, to talk with the negotiators of the FARC....the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Back home... The Commission are faced by the team of former President Alvaro Uribe, who`s  demanding real jail time for those convicted of war crimes, in real prisons, rather than community service centers. 

It won`t be easy to convince the FARC to step up and swallow down this bitter pill. Convincing their rank and file to disarm, given the prevailing circumstances will also be fraught with difficulties.
 
The Peace Deal has been signed, but it`s not either been accepted or adopted by the Colombian people.  The only way this could happen is if the FARC submits to justice,  and rapidly evolves into a genuine political party.  Yet FARC hardliners are now likely to dig their heels in,  to mire the entrenched stance taken by Alvaro Uribe. 

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Washington D.C., Oct 4, 2016 / 01:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- St. Francis of Assisi is widely known for his life of poverty and love of creation. But there’s a lesser-known side to the friar as well – a side that showed a deep reverence for the Eucharist and attentive care to the sacred vessels at Mass.     

Francis’ love of creation really points to “the Christo-centrism of his spirituality,” said Brother William Short, a professor of spirituality at the Franciscan School of Theology in California.

“We can trivialize it and make Francis kind of a tree-hugger,” he told CNA, but “his Canticle of the creatures is a really profound way of understanding not just the presence of God, but the presence of Christ within all of creation.”

On Oct. 4, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a deacon from Assisi, Italy who renounced his wealth to follow Christ and founded the Order of Friars Minor, later called the Franciscans; the Order of Poor Ladies, now the Poor Clares; and the Third Order of Penance, now the Third Order Franciscans. Born in the 1180s, he died in 1226 and was canonized in 1228.

St. Francis is often cited as an example of poverty – he and his friars worked and begged for just enough food and resources to survive. The saint is also known for his love of creation, and statutes of the friar adorn many gardens. He is the patron of animals, ecology, and the environment and wrote the Canticle of the Sun where he praises God and His creation.

But the saint loved God first and creation in its proper order, stressed Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., a biographer of St. Francis.

“He loved nature and animals, and they caused him not only to pray and praise God but to become ecstatic. Nature was a reason for him to praise God, and he loved nature. But there was no confusion between nature and God for Francis,” he said.

Fr. Augustine wrote the book, “Francis of Assisi: A New Biography,” published in 2012. “One of the principal conclusions of my book is that Francis had no political projects, whether for the Church or for the society,” he told CNA.

“In fact, the idea that he would put himself in a position of knowing better than other people is completely contrary to his desire to be a servant of all and be below everyone else,” he said.

Brother William noted that there are false assumptions that Francis was eccentric and was purely a poet and mystic who was “vague on the details” and “not very well organized.” On the contrary, he said, Francis actually showed “very clear ideas and was very good at expressing them” and had “organizational and administrative skill” in founding three orders.

And while he preached peace and some may have seen him as “gentle” and perhaps “weak,” there was a “very demanding side of him,” Br. William added, as Francis demanded much not only of himself but also of his fellow friars in following Christ.

He has also been perceived as “simple” and “not very well educated,” but Francis was actually better educated than most of his contemporaries, Br. William added. He was literate in two languages and composed poetry in the Umbrian dialect of Italian.

“He misleads people by referring to himself as simple, but he was more educated than we might think.”

Another lesser-known side of Francis is the deeply religious and pious man who put a strict emphasis on care for the sacred vessels at Mass, reverence for the Eucharist, and obedience to the Church.

“The one case where he’s harsh in his deathbed confession is he says if there are any friars who are not Catholic or do not follow the books of the Roman Church for their services, they are to be arrested, put in chains, and held to be handed over to the corrector of the order, the Cardinal of Ostia,” Fr. Augustine said.

Of Francis’ nine letters, he added, “seven of them are basically dedicated to chastising priests for using unpolished chalices, dirty altar linen, and not keeping the sacrament in a suitable place.”

This was actually a common practice of the time, Br. William noted, so much so that the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 spoke out about the need for better cleanliness in churches and for the Blessed Sacrament to be reserved in a suitable place.

Francis “made it a personal crusade of his not only to encourage others, particularly the clergy, to take care of churches a little bit better, but he personally would go with a broom and actually sweep out a church as a volunteer simply out of respect for the Eucharist and for the Lord,” he noted.

And Francis also drew a “very strong connection between the Eucharist and the Nativity,” he added, “that for him, his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the one who gives to the faithful the body of her son, is mirrored in the action of the priest at the Eucharist.”

“So there’s a strong connection between the Blessed Virgin and what he calls the hands of the priest and the womb of the Blessed Virgin – as these means by which the body of the Lord is given to the faithful.”

Francis’ devotion to the Eucharist also comes out in a letter he wrote to the Brothers and Sisters of Poverty where he described the “perfect act of poverty,” as Fr. Augustine summarized it:

“And the perfect act of poverty was when God Who was ruler of the universe took on weak human flesh in the Incarnation, and then not only did God Who was the ruler of all take on weak human flesh, he allowed Himself to be subject to being rejected, maltreated, tortured and killed, and then not only that, even more perfectly as an act of poverty, God Who became Incarnate and died on the cross gave us His body as our own food.”

That teaching “sums up everything about Francis,” he said.

Claims that Francis excoriated the clergy for their decadence were false and circulated by excommunicates decades after his death, Fr. Augustine added.

“Francis never displays in any authentic documents about him or his own writings anything except absolute submission, obedience to the hierarchy,” he said.

“The stories about him humiliating prelates and so forth about not living poorly are stories that date to over 100 years after his death and come out of circles of radical Franciscans who have been excommunicated by the Pope and are against the hierarchy.”

 

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IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore Romano

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Amid the devastation wrought by an earthquake in central Italy, Pope Francis quietly prayed and offered words of consolation to survivors and those assisting in relief efforts.

Later, when crowds pressed around him, the pope used a megaphone to tell the people of Amatrice that he had wanted to visit sooner, but felt showing up immediately after the Aug. 24 quake would have complicated relief efforts and "would have been more of a hindrance than a help."

"From the first moment, I felt that I needed to come to you! Simply to express my closeness to you, nothing more. And I pray; I pray for you!" the pope said Oct. 4.

The epicenter of the earthquake was close to Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict, and had a magnitude of 6.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Amatrice was the hardest-hit town, accounting for 234 of the estimated 290 deaths, according to the Italian Civil Protection office.

Shortly after news of the quake, the pope had led 11,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square in praying the rosary for the victims. He also sent six Vatican firefighters and six Vatican police officers to Amatrice to help search for victims trapped under the rubble.

During his flight to Rome from Azerbaijan Oct. 2, the pope told journalists that while he was unsure when he would visit the towns devastated by the earthquake, he wanted to do it alone.

"I will do it privately, alone, as a priest, bishop and pope. But alone. That's how I want to do it and I want to be close to the people," he said.

Two days later, the pope, accompanied by Bishop Domenico Pompili of Rieti, visited the newly built Capranica Elementary School in Amatrice and greeted the students individually before making his way to the "red zone," an area completely destroyed by the earthquake and cordoned off due to safety concerns.

Looking over the rubble where the town center once stood, the pope prayed in silence for the victims of the quake.

Pope Francis also visited the St. Raphael Borbona Assisted Living Facility in Rieti, where he greeted each of the home's 60 elderly patients and ate lunch with them. Many of the residents were displaced from Amatrice when their homes were destroyed.

Before departing Amatrice for the neighboring towns of Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto, the pope told the crowd gathered around him that he had two simple gifts for them.

"Closeness and prayer: this is my offer to you," he said. "May the Lord bless you all and Our Lady protect you in this moment of sadness, pain and trial."

After giving them his blessing, Pope Francis led the people in praying a Hail Mary for those who died.

"Always look ahead," he told the survivors. "Have courage and help each other. One walks better together, alone we go nowhere. Go forward!"

Father Savino d'Amelio, pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Amatrice, told Vatican Radio that the pope's visit was "very beautiful and very meaningful."

"It was an unexpected gesture, sudden, a bit like the earthquake that came when no one was expecting it," he said.

With aftershocks continuing, including the night before the pope's visit, people are sleeping with one eye open, "ready to run," the priest said.

Pope Francis continued visiting towns in the afternoon, briefly visiting firefighters in Cittareale before arriving in Accumoli. After greeting the town's mayor and survivors, the pope spent several minutes in silent prayer in front of the Church of St. Francis, which was destroyed by the earthquake.

He then traveled to the nearby towns of Pescara del Tronto and Arquata del Tronto, where he was greeted by more than 100 people and visited a makeshift school among the tents for the displaced.

Echoing his words in Amatrice, the pope encouraged the people to not lose hope and joined them in prayer for their loved ones who died in the quake.

"I wanted to be close to you right now and say to you that you are in my heart and I know, I know your suffering and your anguish. I also know about your deceased loved ones and I am with you," he said.

Pope Francis ended the day with a visit to the town of San Pellegrino di Norcia, where he prayed in front of the town's badly damaged church and greeted the townspeople before returning to Rome.

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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.

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By Dennis Sadowski

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Wind-whipped rains from Hurricane Matthew shattered Haiti's southwest peninsula, downing trees, ripping open makeshift wooden homes and causing widespread flooding Oct. 4 as aid workers waited for the storm to subside before mobilizing.

The city of Les Cayes and coastal towns and villages in South Department were experiencing the most destruction as the storm made landfall at dawn with 145-mile-an-hour winds.

Forecasters expected Matthew to dump up to 30 inches of rain in most communities, with some locales receiving up to 40 inches.

Les Cayes and surrounding areas were the focus of concern for Catholic Relief Services. Kim Pozniak, communications manager, told Catholic News Service that the potential for landslides was high because of the geography of the region.

She said CRS staff also was troubled over the well-being of residents who decided to stay in their homes despite calls to evacuate.

"I was told by staff in Les Cayes yesterday (Oct. 3) that the government was going around with megaphones to alert people. But many decided to stay put to protect their homes and belongings. We've heard that some people did not think the storm would be as severe as predicted," Pozniak said.

She said Chris Bessey, CRS country director, had last been in contact with CRS staff in Les Cayes overnight as the storm approached and that rains and winds were intensifying before electrical and internet service were disrupted.

"Trees were knocked down and also there was some flooding already," she said. "We're unable to communicate with the staff in Les Cayes because everything is down."

The agency had positioned relief supplies, including food, sanitation and kitchen kits and emergency shelter materials in warehouses in the area, and workers were prepared to begin delivering aid once the storm moved north. Engineers were stationed in three locales and were preparing to begin assessing damage to homes and to help people with the shelter materials, Pozniak said.

In the hours before the storm made landfall, CRS staff had assisted Haiti's Civil Protection Agency by offering vehicles and fuel for use to help with evacuation, she added.

CRS and at least one other Catholic agency had begun accepting donations for their emergency responses in Haiti:

-- Catholic Relief Services online at donate.crs.org/hurricane-matthew-crs; via mail to P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, Maryland, 21297-0303 and indicate Hurricane Matthew in the memo; or call toll-free 877-435-7277 from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time.

-- Catholic Medical Mission Board online at www.cmmb.org/donations/hurricane-matthew/.

Heavy rains also pounded the capital of Port-au-Prince, causing some flooding in low-lying areas, but winds were not as severe, Jacques Liautaud, Haiti manager for the church rebuilding project known as PROCHE, told Catholic News Service Oct. 4.

"We're seeing mostly rain and a few gusts of high winds. Otherwise, it's been relatively calm," said Liautaud, who was in the country monitoring construction projects underway to help the Catholic Church rebuild after the country's powerful 2010 earthquake.

"The city is pretty shut down today. Everybody is sheltering in place," he said.

Liautaud added that Haitian media reported that at least three people had died because of the storm. The reports could not be immediately confirmed.

The center of Matthew was expected to continue on a northward path through the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba. Heavy rains were expected in eastern Cuba, and hurricane warnings were issued for the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. Weather forecasters in the United States were keeping an eye on the storm's path and expected it to pass just offshore from Florida and the southeast coast. Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for the entire state Oct. 3.

Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was the most recent violent storm to strike Haiti, causing widespread flooding in many of the same communities affected by Matthew. Sandy also devastated Jamaica and eastern Cuba. In all, more than 70 people died in the Caribbean from the late-season hurricane. Sandy made its way northward, taking aim on New Jersey and New York to become the second costliest such storm in U.S. history.

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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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