Colombian prelate says church trying to set stage for hostage release

Published: 2008-01-21

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- A Catholic Church official said the church is moving ahead to set the stage for negotiations with a Marxist guerrilla group to free hostages. "We are working with great enthusiasm and interest," Archbishop Luis Castro Quiroga of Tunja, president of the Colombian bishops' conference, told reporters in mid-January. The church is trying to designate a demilitarized zone for representatives of the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym, FARC. The idea is that the rebels would negotiate to release their kidnap victims in return for the government freeing hundreds of imprisoned rebels.

Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .