Pope on Colombia trip Sep 6-11

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 10 - Pope Francis will visit Colombia from September 6 to 11, the Vatican press office said Friday. "Accepting the invitation from the President of the Republic and Colombian bishops, His Holiness Pope Francis will make an Apostolic Journey to Colombia from 6 to 11 September 2017, visiting the cities of Bogotá, Villavicencio, Medellín and Cartagena", said Vatican press office deputy director Paloma Ovejero. In December the pope Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and former president Alvaro Uribe. Santos gave the pope a pen made from a shell casing, which was used to sign a November, 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla movement, putting an end to decades of violence. "The bullet is inscribed with the words 'bullets have been our past, peace is our future'," the Colombian leader told Francis, inviting him to visit his country.