Pope Francis and Argentina’s ‘dirty war’

He may be seen as less conservative than most, but newly-elected Pope Francis is definitely no liberal. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when many Latin American priests like the assassinated San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero were pushing for radical change to fight poverty, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio — then known only as father Jorge — was discreetly supporting the military regime of his namesake General Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina, accounts from the time say. The Catholic Church in general, and the Order of Jesus in particular, legitimized military rule and “advised” the generals on how to dispose of its political enemies without attracting the attention of the Vatican, Argentinian and foreign historians recall. Bergoglio has never apologized for his actions or the role of the Church during Argentina’s “Dirty War” against its own citizens, they add.

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