What Can We Expect from the Pope?

The Caras celebrity magazine welcome Pope Francis.

Even before Pope Francis's arrival, we can thank him for the cease-fire agreement with the ELN guerrillas, who (in contrast with the FARC) have long ties with the church: They once even had a

Le Monde Diplomatique asks whether
Francis will manage to alter the
Colombian church's conservatism.

priest as a leader. A bit paradoxically, however, during his visit the pope is to beatify a Colombian bishop assassinated by the ELN in 1989.

But more substantial changes seem unlikely - despite all the anticipation and commercialization.

Francis will visit a Colombia whose Catholicism is declining, both in terms of the number of faithful and in terms of the church's influence. Altho about 79% of Colombians still identify as Catholics - one of the highest percentages in the region - a much smaller number appear to attend church. And evangelical churches are growing rapidly, particularly among the poor, as they are across the region. The Catholic Church has also lost its central role as an institution. The 1991 Constitution transformed Colombia from an officially Catholic to a secular nation. And during the recent, and successful, peace negotiations with the FARC guerrillas, the church did not play the role as mediator it had in earlier talks.

A demonstrator complains to the Pope that the Colombian
government hasn't fulfilled its obligations to displaced people.

Neither has the Catholic Church been able to prevent reforms
legalizing euthenasia, abortion in some cases, same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples. Nor has the nation's Catholicism been able to prevent a world-high 84% of babies being born to unmarried parents.

At the same time, Francis will also encounter extremely conservative Catholics, led by ex-attorney general Alejandro Ordoñez, who reject not only those liberal legal changes, but also Vatican II.

José Galat, the conservative rector of Gran Colombia University, has even called Pope Francis a 'heretic' and claims that Francis 'is paving the way for the anti-Christ.' Colombian church officials have told believers not to watch the university's television channel, TeleAmiga.

A rough night for muggers. The night before the pope's arrival soldiers stand guard in La Candelaria.

The security for the Pope is extreme, and exaggerated. On the day of his arrival, Ave. 26 is to be closed down for the whole afternoon. And the morning he gives mass in La Candelaria, the whole neighborhood is to be shut to cars and even bicycles. All this, even tho one guerrilla group is at peace with the government, and the other just reached a cease-fire agreement. If anything happened to the pope, it would be a tragedy, of course. But wouldn't ordinary presidential security be enough?

Hundreds of believers line up outside the Cathedral of Bogotá to see an image of the Virgin of Chiquinquira.

The Pope's visit means commercialism.

Readying seats in Plaza Bolivar for the Pope's mass.

Want a papal shirt?

A sign on a post asks the Pope to oppose Bogotá Mayor Peñalosa and neoliberalism.

A rare sight. The Simon Bolivar statue in Plaza Bolivar is free of graffiti and pigeon droppins.

A billboard on 26th St. welcomes Pope Francis.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Possible Next Pope's Colombia Connection

Cardinal Marc Ouellet

In the jostling for the man who'll replace Pope Benedict, oddsmakers have made Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet the favorite. The election of a non-European pope would be a watershed moment for the Catholic Church, and Ouellet, 68 even has a Colombian connection. He taught courses in Catholic seminaries in Bogotá, Manizales and Cali. (In fact, there's a Canadian Catholic seminary on the hill right above my apartment, where it blocks the morning sun. Did a possible future pope once walk there?) Ouellet is president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and his experience in Colombia and other parts of Latin America might give him a sensitivity to this very Catholic region.

Two of the other often-mentioned possible popes are Africans, and another is Argentinian.

Under the very conservative Pope Benedict, the Catholic Church seems to have lost relevance in the eyes of many young people thru its blanket opposition to abortion, gay marriage and other progressive social ideas. But if some hope that a non-European pope could make the Catholic Church more progressive, Ouellet probably won't bring that. His Wikipedia entry says that he's an extreme opponent of abortion, even in the case of rape, and a critic of the progressive Second Vatican Council, which contributed to the progressive Liberation Theology movement popular in Colombia in the 1960s.

If the Catholic church's actions in Colombia are any indication of Ouellet's ideas, it's not encouraging. The church recently placed a gag order on a Colombian Jesuit priest for questioning the Virgin Mary's virginity, amongst other heresies. The Colombian Catholic hierarchy has also stuck to unyieldingly conservative positions on subjects like gay rights, contraception, abortion and euthenasia and tried to stamp out the last vestiges of the Liberation Theology movement.

It's hard to imagine that the Catholic Church isn't opening a huge breach between itself and the young people who must be its future.

It's hard to imagine that the Catholic Church isn't opening a huge breach between its Eurocentric mentality and the developing world, which must be its future.

It's still likely that the next pope will be European, as every previous pope has been, simply because most of the cardinals, who elect the pope are European. In fact, 28 cardinals are from Italy alone - more than from all of the Americas, or Africa and Asia combined. This despite the fact that there are far more Catholics in Latin America than in Europe, where the number of Catholics is declining. And it is despite the fact that European nations have generally become more secular, and in many cases legalized gay marriage, abortion and euthenasia, while most Latin American nations have stayed true to Catholic values - at least in their legal systems.

And many African nations are even more conservative on social issues.

That's why a non-European pope might not be a more progressive move for the Catholic Church.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours