Pope Francis suffered a minor accident upon his arrival to Cartagena, Colombia, as he was concluding his visit of Sept. 6-11 to “untie the knots of violence” after a 50-year civil war. The pontiff had his eye bandaged and blackened after the accident, he was riding the popemobile trying to reach out to one of the tens of thousands waiting for him along the streets, the car moved abruptly, causing the pope to stumble.
He hit the left side of his head against the metal bar that holds the glass roof of the vehicle, striking him in the face.
The Pope bruised his cheekbone and cut his left eyebrow, blood staining his white cassock. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, traveling with the pontiff, told journalists that he’s just fine. The Vatican said he received ice treatment and was fine.
Eventually, the motorcade stopped for the pope to receive treatment while he was making a stop at the home of a 77-year-old women who cooks and distributes meals to the homeless named Lorenza Pérez. When he got back in the car, he was sporting a Band-Aid on his eyebrow and a bruise was already visible on his cheekbone.
At the end of the day, when he said mass for hundreds of thousands of people in the city’s port area, the bruise had swollen and he had blackened skin under his eye. “If Colombia wants a stable and lasting peace, it must urgently take a step in this direction, which is that of the common good, of equity, of justice, of respect for human nature and its demands,” he said in a strong voice in the homily of the mass.
"Only if we help to untie the knots of violence, will we unravel the complex threads of disagreements,” he said.
Francis used the trip to urge Colombians deeply polarized by a peace plan to shun vengeance after a bloody 50-year civil war. He also said leaders had to enact laws to end injustice and social inequality that breeds violence.
