May 19, 2025
Colombian president Petro meeting with the new pope.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed his gratitude on Monday to Cuba and Venezuela, guarantor countries of his nation’s peace processes, for their efforts to help seal an agreement between insurgent groups and the government.
In a statement made after a private audience with Pope Leo XIV held today at the Vatican, he said he spoke with the Supreme Pontiff on the matter.
“I thank Cuba, Venezuela—and Cuba, which has suffered so much—for offering its territory to talk about peace. But I believe that it is here, in the Vatican, where we can remember the theory of effective love, with its intersecting powers, because obviously this is a world of power,” Petro said in reference to his conversation with the Supreme Pontiff.
The president met with the Bishop of Rome for about 20 minutes during which they discussed migration, the climate crisis, and the need to end conflicts both in Colombia and the rest of the world.
Petro also extended an invitation to the Pope to visit the nation of New Granada and urged him in particular to visit the region of Chiribiquete, because “it is the first land to emerge from the water on the planet,” according to the president.
“On your trip to Peru, I would like you to visit Colombia,” he said, inviting him to visit Santa Marta, a city that the president described as “the heart of the world.”
In his statements, the president assured that the Supreme Pontiff, born in the United States and knowledgeable about Latin America, can build a bridge that will allow the U.S. government to understand that, if it prioritizes the fight against migration, it would be committing murder “against its own children,” when it should be focusing on stopping climate change.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry issued a statement detailing that, after the conversation with Leo XIV, the delegation accompanying Petro met with Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, with whom they discussed the bilateral and regional agenda and common challenges on the international stage.
As a symbolic gesture, the source added, the president presented the Holy Father with a replica of the Muisca raft, an Arhuaco backpack woven by indigenous women from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a handmade hammock from Morroa (Sucre), and Colombian coffee, as an expression of the country’s cultural identity, hospitality, and diversity.
Source: Cuba en Resumen