From the New Republic: When Pope Francis Testified About the Dirty War
I haven't yet read the transcripts, but here's a link to Yale human rights fellow Sam Ferguson's article about Pope Francis's testimony regarding Argentina's dirty war. Most articles I have seen on the subject have been wanting on details and verification, generally some variation on he said/he said.
Here on DU I've seen a lot of jumping to conclusions, plus the posting of outdated/uncorrected material, so judge for yourself here.
Thus far I haven't been able to find an article on this on Amnesty International's U.S. website.
[url]http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112656/pope-francis-and-argentinas-dirty-war-what-he-knew#[/url]
Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, has rarely spoken about his own role in what's known as the "Dirty War," during which at least 9,000 people were forcibly disappeared. But in 2010, he appeared as a witness in the criminal trial of eighteen officers who had worked at the notorious Naval Mechanics School, where the country's military junta detained political prisoners—including a pair of Jesuit priests who'd been kidnapped shortly after the regime took power in a 1976 coup. Bergoglio, who was not a defendant in the case, insisted on clerical testimonial privilege and did not testify in open court; proceedings were held in his office. As part of my research into that trial, I obtained access to a transcript from the hearing, during which prosecutors and human rights lawyers grilled him for more than four hours over his alleged complicity in the kidnappings. The transcript has not been widely circulated, though it recently appeared in Spanish on the website of an Argentine human rights NGO. It offers a unique insight into the steps Bergoglio took and did not take to save the desaparecidos.
By the time he testified, Bergoglio had been facing criticism about the kidnapping for years. His critics allege that he withdrew Church protection from the priests, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, who worked with the poor in the Bajo Flores slum of Buenos Aires. According to this theory, Bergoglio had warned the priests that they should abandon the slum because sectors of the military and church saw their activity as "subversive." When the priests refused, he allegedly told them they'd have to leave the Compañia de Jesus, their local order, if they wanted to keep working there—effectively giving the green light to the military junta to detain them. In a 1999 interview, conducted shortly before he died, Yorio said that he faulted Bergoglio for his kidnapping. Bergoglio denied complicity. After the interview was published in a book in 2005, a local human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against Bergoglio over the incident. The courts, however, have not taken any steps to indict Bergoglio, according to the lawyer, Marcelo Parrilli. But the interview appeared just as Bergoglio was being mentioned as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II.
Bergoglio's 2010 testimony offers his take on events. Prior to the coup, he said he had given Yorio and Jalics permission to work in the Bajo Flores slum. The two priests, who practiced liberation theology, saw their life mission as alleviating the plight of the poor. Bergoglio testified at trial that "every priest that worked with the poor was a target for suspicion and accusation from some sectors," but as a "Jesuit brother" of the priests, he wanted to do what he could to help them "continue working." Bergolgio testified that Yorio and Jalics told him several times that they thought they were in danger. He also recalled that he was pressured from inside the church to dissolve the religious community where Yorio and Jalics worked and transfer the priests elsewhere in the church, though he claimed it was for organizational reasons, not ideological ones. Bergoglio was also questioned about allegations that Yorio's ministerial license had been revoked several days before the kidnapping, another alleged signal to the military that the priests were fair game. He disputed this account, saying, "I don't believe that their licenses were suspended." As evidence, Bergoglio said that the priests continued to work in the slum, which they would not have been permitted to do "if their licenses had been formally suspended."
(SNIP)
Bergoglio recounted during his testimony the steps he took to ensure Yorio and Jalics' releases. He testified that he "began to move immediately" when he was alerted of their arrests, which he called a "moment of desperation." He said he began to "speak with priests that I assumed had access to the police and the armed forces," to find out which service branch kidnapped the priests. He met twice with Jorge Rafael Videla, the Army dictator. He also met twice with Emilio Massera, the junta's navy representative. In the first meeting with Massera, he said he "went to find out, because I didn't know [where they were]. I gave my testimony that these priests were not involved in anything raro ['rare']." But after the meeting Bergoglio said he discovered through back channels that the navy had, in fact, kidnapped the priests. (He did not specify who gave him this information, only that it was "vox populi."
After this discovery, the second meeting with Massera was "ugly" and brief. He remembered saying, "look Massera, I want them to appear." Then, he testified, "I got up, and I left."
There's more at the link, of course.
Yorio died some years back, and Jalics has only just been reached for comment. See link below.
[url]http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2013/03/15/did-pope-francis-do-enough-to-fight-torture-in-argentina/[/url]