Pope Francis and Giuliani vie for influence in El Salvador
Pope Francis is at it again. The Holy See played an integral part in brokering the accord between the US and Cuba to take a historic step towards renewing diplomatic relations. Now it could be poised to take a decisive role in El Salvador. The Pope has instructed the Roman Catholic Church in the country to set aside religious differences and embrace the ‘Pastoral initiative for life and peace’ (Ipaz) of El Salvador’s Protestant churches to hold a dialogue with rival mara gangs. With El Salvador close to reclaiming the unwanted tag of the world’s most violent country from Honduras, mara gangs revealed a unilateral truce in late January after Ipaz leaders visited imprisoned leaders. Meanwhile, pursuing a decidedly different approach, El Salvador’s private sector has hired the tough-talking former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, as a security consultant to come up with a plan for reducing violence in the country.
Following Mass on 1 February, the auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, Gregorio Rosa Chávez, announced that Ipaz “has the approval of the Pope. He told us to get in there and work for youth to have opportunities and a chance to dream.” The leaders of nine ecclesiastical denominations, including Lutheran and Anglican bishops Medardo Gómez and Martín Barahona respectively, and Bishop Fabio Colindres who played a key role in the media- tion which led to the first (failed) gang truce in 2012, presented Ipaz last April. It advocated reactivating the gang truce and stopping the escalation in violence through three mechanisms for dialogue: inter-gang talks; talks between gangs and civil society; and talks between civil society and the State.