Pope Francis: questions remain over his role during Argentina's dictatorship

[RandySF]

As head of the Jesuit order from 1973 to 1979, Jorge Bergoglio – as the new pope was known until yesterday – was a member of the hierarachy during the period when the wider Catholic church backed the military government and called for their followers to be patriotic.

Bergoglio twice refused to testify in court about his role as head of the Jesuit order. When he eventually appeared in front of a judge in 2010, he was accused by lawyers of being evasive.

The main charge against Bergoglio involves the kidnapping of two Jesuit priests, Orland Yorio and Francisco Jalics, who were taken by Navy officers in May 1976 and held under inhumane conditions for the missionary work they conducted in the country's slums, a politically risky activity at the time.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/14/pope-francis-argentina-military-junta

[Buzz Clik]

1. Oy. I guess the media feels better when they go through this kind of exercise.

The last pope was a Nazi, if I recall correctly.

[RandySF]

2. In Ratzinger's case, the media was wrong to call him out.

But this pope was already an adult and a church official during the days of the Pinochet regime.