AMERICA/COLOMBIA - "Weapons, from security to threat for the family, must be eliminated" asks the Archbishop of Medellin

Medellin (Agenzia Fides) - Following the invitation of the Mayor of Medellín, Aníbal Gaviria Correa to various institutions including the Catholic Church, to support the campaign for the disarmament of this city, the Archbishop of Medellin, His Exc. Mgr . Ricardo Tobon Restrepo said that he will support this initiative, addressed to the good of the entire community.
"I think it is very important to implement an initiative of this kind, as we have already done in Medellín on previous occasions, when many people brought their weapons to the gazebo in front of churches, and not only to remove guns from their hands, but especially to eliminate hatred from the heart", said the Archbishop.
The note sent to Fides by the PMS of Colombia also reports the words of Mgr. Tobon Restrepo: "Weapons in houses have gone from being a security tool to a constant danger for the family. The Church has always been willing to accompany a program of disarmament, because when a person owns a gun he is planning to kill someone. When there is a weapon in a family, parents believe that it is safer, but a child can believe it is a toy".
Finally the Archbishop recalled that, in this time of Lent, the Church invites us to "renew ourselves and take the opportunity to seek peace and reconciliation".
The initiative had already been carried out in the past in Colombia (see Fides 01/04/2012 and 01/27/2014) and reproposed in other countries, such as Mexico (see Fides 11/06/2013) (CE) (Agenzia Fides 10/03/2015)