Apr 12, 2004 / 22:00 pm
At the beginning of the Easter Season, Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Saenz, Archbishop of Bogota and President of the Colombian Bishops Conference, called for the release of all those being held hostage in the country.
In his message, the Colombian cardinal said that Easter “is the opportunity captors have to release thousands of people who have been deprived of their liberty and thus to make peace with civil society.”
“Those who are holding people hostage, trampling upon their dignity and their liberty, should understand the cry of the Colombian people calling out for the return of these people to their homes,” he added.
Cardinal Saenz offered prayers for the immediate release of two former congressmen who have been held captive for two years.
He also offered the Easter Mass for the Spanish people, who suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks last month in Madrid, which left 191 dead, including one un-born child, in Madrid.