Colombian bishops elect as president expert in country's conflict

Published: 2005-07-06

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- Colombian bishops have elected Archbishop Luis Castro Quiroga of Tunja as president of the bishops' conference. Archbishop Castro, who served as conference vice president since 2002, is considered one of the Colombian church's leading experts in the country's 40-year conflict. He replaces Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Saenz of Bogota. Archbishop Ivan Marin Lopez of Popayan was elected vice president of the bishops' conference, and retired Bishop Fabian Marulanda Lopez of Florencia was re-elected secretary-general for a second term. With an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a doctorate in theology from Colombia's Javeriana University in Bogota, Archbishop Castro gained experience in the country's conflict from 1986 to 1998, when he headed the Apostolic Vicariate of San Vicente-Puerto Leguizamo in Colombia's southern Caqueta department. The region is a stronghold of the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC.

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