Francis had said that he would visit the
country if a truce between the warring parties was agreed but Sunday
evening - before news of the vote came in - stressed he would only do so
if the people voted in favour of a truce to end Latin America’s longest
running conflict.
The trip now looks unlikely after
Colombians made the shock decision to reject a peace deal that would
have formally ended 52-years of hostilities with “no” voters winning a
referendum by a tiny margin of 50.2 per cent to 49.8 per cent.
The
peace deal, which was finally agreed after four years of intense
negotiation, had been strongly supported by the Pope who sent his top
diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to witness the formal signing last
week.
In a sign of the confidence that the deal
would be accepted, President Juan Manuel Santos had publicly announced
last Thursday that the Pope would come to Colombia in the first quarter
of next year as expected.
But the rejection of
the deal now makes a visit unlikely with the Pope telling reporters on
the plane back from Azerbaijan that his trip to Colombia could only
happen if the referendum came out favourably.
“I said that when the peace process comes
out, I would like to go. When everything is locked in. When the
plebiscite wins. When everything is absolutely certain, when they can't
turn back.” Francis explained. “If it's like that, I could go. But if
the thing is unstable, no. Everything depends on what the people say.
The people are sovereign.”
Speaking to reporters yesterday evening,
the Pope said that next year he’ll certainly to Portugal, a trip to
India and Bangladesh is “almost certain”, while trip to an African
country is also on the cards.
Francis, who turns
80 in December, explained that the slots for travelling outside Italy
were limited given a back log of meetings he had with bishops across the
world: the “Ad Limina” visits - where national hierarchies come to Rome
and see the Pope - have been suspended during the jubilee year of
mercy.
One trip Francis would like to make is to
China, a country with which the Holy See has long been trying to
establish formal diplomatic ties with. Relations with China were “good”,
the Pope said on Sunday, adding that Chinese President Xi Jinping had
sent him a gift which had been brought to Rome by a visiting delegation
that had attended a Vatican conference.
Francis explained that groups
representing Beijing and the Holy See have “slowly” been discussing
relations that were broken during communism.
“They’re
talking slowly, but slow things are good. Things that move fast aren’t
good,” he said. “The Chinese people have my highest esteem.”