Pope’s link to ‘Dirty War’ defended

An Irish priest who lived through a South American dictatorship has defended Pope Francis against claims he failed to stand up to abuses by the military regime in his native Argentina.

Fr Kevin O’Higgins, a Jesuit now based in Ballymun, Dublin, said he believed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, had answered satisfactorily questions about his behaviour as head of the Jesuits in Argentina during the brutal military junta in the 1970s and 1980s, and in particular, in relation to the kidnapping of two of the order.

Fr Francisco Jalics and Fr Orland Yoria both survived the ordeal, but in recent years, Fr Jalics accused Cardinal Bergoglio of effectively facilitating their abduction by turning his back on them, because he regarded their missionary work in the slums as too radical and political.