Pope Francis and the long shadow of Argentina's "Dirty War"

from Religion News

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Led by Jorge Videla, the military government orchestrated a reign of terror that plucked political enemies from their homes and sent then to sadistic torture centers where they were often raped, drugged and subjected to mock executions before they were killed. A common practice was to throw victims out of planes flying over the ocean.

The victims are called “los desaparecidos” or “the disappeared,” and number as high as 30,000. Argentinians today are still searching for the remains of the disappeared and their living offspring – scores of babies were born in their parents’ torture chambers and given to military families to adopt.

Since the late 1970s, the so called “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo” have gathered regularly in a famed Buenos Aires square to press for information about their children’s fate, and that of grandchildren they never met.

The Catholic Church in Argentina did not take a uniform stand on the Dirty War. Some priests backed the military, but others worked against it and died for their outspokenness.

But Bergoglio has been outspoken more recently. Argentina’s bishops apologized last year for failing to protect the junta’s victims. But the apology itself drew criticism, because it also blamed the leftists who — sometimes violently — opposed the  junta.

The apology left open the question, The Associated Press reported at the time, as to how much Catholic leaders knew of the junta’s atrocities. As pope, it still may be one that Francis will be called to answer.

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