Colombian martyrs: witnesses to the point of death Jul 21, Vatican A man waves a Colombian flag in Bogota, Colombia, in this file photo. But it also needs those who have the courage to accept the grace of being witnesses to the end, to the point of death," he said. Pedro Maria Ramirez, who was killed at the start of the Colombian civil war in , seemingly fit the pope's description.
Their beatification, which will take place during the pope's visit to Colombia Sept. Get the best of NCR delivered to your inbox! Sign up here Jaramillo was among the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives caught in the crossfire of Colombia's year civil war between government forces and guerrilla groups. In , St. It was there where he spoke out not only against the atrocities committed by the National Liberation Army β known by the Spanish acronym ELN β but also denounced the climate of fear among the people he served.
We all are afraid, we all remain silent because of fear. And worst of all, my brothers and sisters, we kill out of fear," he said in an undated recorded homily.
Fear kills us all. According to his biography, one of his parish priests, Fr. Jose Munoz Pareja, refused to leave his side. However, after praying together and absolving each other's sins, Jaramillo told Munoz to leave out of obedience. As the priest walked away, he heard the bishop tell his captors, "I'll speak to whoever you want me to speak to, but please don't do anything to my child. Jaramillo was shot twice in the head with an assault rifle.
For his courage and witness, the faithful of Arauca honored the bishop with a title engraved on his tombstone that reads, "prophet and martyr of peace. The martyrdom of Fr. Pedro Maria Ramirez came during another difficult period in Colombia's history, when escalating tensions between liberals and conservatives boiled over following the death of Liberal presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitan.
