The President of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Work in Argentina, Bishop Jorge Lozano, issued a call on Wednesday urging the country’s faithful to share information they may have regarding the fate of the children kidnapped during Argentina’s “Dirty War.” In the document, Bishop Lozano notes that, “There has been a network of silence and complicity that has kept the truth covered up.” The Church and its members have historically been a part of this network, Bishop Lozano admitted.
The announcement follows a meeting at the Vatican earlier this year between Pope Francis, formerly Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, and the leader of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo), Estela de Carlotto. Carlotto and the Abuelas asked the pope to open Church archives that could lead to information regarding 400 children suspected of being kidnapped during the dictatorship. Francis reportedly told Carlotto, “Count on me.” The meeting was a turning point in the relationship between the Abuelas and Bergoglio, whom Carlotto has criticized for his silence on the issue of the kidnapped children.
The Church’s record during Argentina’s dictatorship is checkered. While many priests and other religious figures were among the victims of the regime, elements of the Church are considered to have been either tacitly or actively complicit in the worst abuses of the Dirty War. In the wake of his election, Francis’s own record was the subject of intense scrutiny and debate. Since then, a number of survivors have claimed that future pope secretly helped funnel potential victims to safety.
