BOGOTA, Colombia – As Colombia’s government and communist rebels sit down for peace talks to resolve decades of brutal war, the bishops of the South-American country have revealed that the capital city of Bogota will host the next World Apostolic Congress on Divine Mercy in August 2014.

Bishop Julio Hernando Garcia of Istima Tado, who heads the committee charged with organizing the event, made the announcement during a press conference on Aug. 8.

He said the 2014 congress will be held Aug. 15-19, and it will serve as “a platform for healing the wounds of the conflict that has shaken the country for more than 60 years.”

“All of the problems that we are living through and experiencing in the country pose an enormous challenge, such that the congress can’t be simply a pious experience,” Bishop Garcia said. “It also must have a social transcendence that implies political and economic commitments and very concrete realities.”

The announcement from the Colombia bishops’ conference was made amid ongoing peace talks between the Colombian government and the rebel group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), after half a century of armed conflict that has resulted in more than 600,000 deaths.

The World Congress on Divine Mercy was held previously in Rome 2006 and in Poland in 2011.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, president of the congress, called the 2014 gathering a “great opportunity for Colombia because the country is in the process of reconciliation and peace.”

“The more the message of the mercy of God is made known, the more people are able to live out all of this,” he said.

The secretary of the Colombian bishops’ conference, Bishop Jose Daniel Falla Robles, said that forgiveness is an essential aspect of the faith. “There needs to be peace, reconciliation and forgiveness in the heart, and this demands that we show mercy,” he said.

“We don’t know how the peace process will end,” Bishop Robles said. “I hope we could all know, but the congress on mercy will come after this, and with or without a signed accord, the Church has the duty to work for mercy. It is our duty to draw near to the suffering of each person.”

“In fact,” he continued, “the word mercy comes from drawing near in heart to those who suffer, to human misery, to injustices, to those families who have been divested of everything because of the violence in our country.”

He said, “We need to create a mentality of closeness to those who suffer.”