Pope calls on Colombia to hold steady on the path to peace

Pope Francis on Thursday urged Colombians to shun vengeance following a bloody 50-year war with guerrillas but challenged the country's leaders to enact just laws to resolve the causes of inequality that lead to violence.

At the start of his first full day in Colombia, Francis told government leaders that all Colombians should see peace as a long-term commitment and not allow it to be weakened by partisan politics.

Colombians are deeply polarized as they prepare to receive 7,000 former fighters of the FARC guerrilla group into society and aim to repair divisions after a war that killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions over five decades.

"Despite obstacles, differences and varying perspectives on the way to achieve peaceful coexistence, this task (of reconciliation) summons us to persevere in the struggle to promote a culture of encounter," he told the dignitaries, headed by President Juan Manuel Santos

Many Colombians, however, are furious that under the 2016 peace deal, FARC leaders accused of kidnapping, displacements and murder will avoid jail sentences and instead may receive seats in congress as members of a civilian political party.

"It is not worth silencing the rifles, if we remain armed in our hearts," Santos said. "There's no point in ending a war, if we still see one another as enemies. That's why we need to reconcile."

Francis said he hoped the determination to achieve lasting peace should "help us flee from the temptation to vengeance and the satisfaction of short-term partisan interests."

As part of the peace agreement, the government agreed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to distribute more land and land titles to poor rural communities and to invest and bring development to war-torn areas.

The FARC, which began as a peasant revolt in 1964, has also pledged to help subsistence farmers switch from illegal crops like coca, the raw material that makes cocaine, to food crops.

Francis will spend all of Thursday in Bogota, visiting the capital's colonial cathedral and saying a Mass before an expected crowd of more than a million people in Simon Bolivar Park.

He will visit the cities of Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena before leaving for Rome on Sunday night.