Pope Francis Pledged to Fight for Priest Kidnapped by Junta, 1976 Letter Reveals

By Jeevan Vasagar
The Telegraph
March 18, 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9937598/Pope-Francis-pledged-to-fight-for-priest-kidnapped-by-junta-1976-letter-reveals.html

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez meets Pope Francis at the Vatican

Pope Francis pledged to fight for the release of a Jesuit priest kidnapped by Argentina's military junta, according to a letter from 1976 which has been disclosed to a German newspaper.

The Vatican has fought back against allegations that the new Pope, while a senior Jesuit priest in Argentina, was complicit in the kidnapping and torture of two colleagues, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, during the country's "Dirty War".

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected the first Latin American pope last Wednesday, is accused of withdrawing the church's protection from the two men.

It has now emerged that Bergoglio wrote a letter to Father Jalics' brother, in which he admitted that the two men had disagreements. However, he insisted that he "loved" Fr Jalics.

An extract from the letter said: "I have lobbied the government many times for your brother's release. So far we have had no success. But I have not lost hope that your brother will soon be released."

The two Jesuits, who had been working in the slums, were kidnapped and tortured by the Argentine military after a lay colleague of theirs joined guerillas opposed to the government. The priests were held captive for five months, blindfolded and handcuffed.

Bergoglio has said he told the priests to give up their slum work for their own safety, and they refused. Fr Yorio, who is now dead, later accused Bergoglio of effectively delivering them to the death squads by declining to publicly endorse their work. At the time Bergoglio was the most senior Jesuit in Argentina.

In the letter, disclosed in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Bergoglio writes: "I have made this affair MY thing. The difficulties that your brother and I have had over the religious life have nothing to do with it."

In another excerpt, he writes: "I love him and I will do everything I can to free him."

According to the family, Fr Jalics was convinced that Bergoglio had betrayed him and Fr Yorio to the junta because he did not agree with their work in the slums. The family told the German newspaper that Bergoglio had subsequently apologized to Jalics.

Fr Jalics, who now lives in a monastery in Bavaria, southern Germany, said in a statement last week that he had discussed the events many years later with Bergoglio and the two men had then celebrated mass together and embraced.

However, he declined to absolve Bergoglio of the charge of failing to protect them, saying only that he could "make no comment" on the senior priest's role at the time.