There
is a new pope. Already there are questions about his role in the
Argentine dictatorship of the 1970's and he has been accused of being involved in the kidnapping of two priests.
Pope
Francis elected as 266th Roman Catholic pontiff
Cardinal
Jorge Bergoglio takes name of Francis after accepting his election as
266th head of Roman Catholic church
13
March, 2013
The
cardinals of the Roman Catholic church on Wednesday chose as their
new pope a man from almost "the end of the world" – the
first non-European to be elected for almost 1,300 years and the
first-ever member of the Jesuit order.
Jorge
Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, becomes Pope Francis
– the first pontiff to take that name – an early indication
perhaps of a reign he hopes will be marked by inspirational preaching
and evangelisation.
But
the cardinals' choice risked running into immediate controversy over
the new pope's role in Argentina's troubled history. In his book, El
Silencio, a prominent Argentinian journalist alleged that he connived
in the abduction of two Jesuit priests by the military junta in the
so-called "dirty war". He denies the accusation.
The
new pope appeared on the balcony over the entrance to St Peter's
basilica more than an hour after white smoke poured from the chimney
above the Sistine Chapel, signalling that the cardinals had made
their choice. Dressed in his new white robes, the bespectacled
Argentinian prelate looked pensive and perhaps a little intimidated
as he looked out at the sea of jubilant humanity in the square.
The
former Cardinal Bergoglio was not among the front-runners. But he
obtained more votes than any other candidate except former pope
Benedict in the 2005 conclave, and – although his election came as
a surprise – he was certainly not a rank outsider.
According
to some accounts, he was not chosen eight years ago because he begged
his fellow cardinals not to continue voting for him. As he uttered
his first words – "buona sera" – and the cheering died
away, he told the crowd that his peers had been tasked with finding a
bishop of Rome. "And it seems that they went almost to the end
of the world to find him. But we're here," he said with a smile.
After
a prayer for his predecessor, Benedict XVI, the new pope invited the
faithful in the square to "pray for the entire world". He
added: "I hope that this path for the church will be one
fruitful for evangelisation."
Faced
with a sharp choice between those cardinals who wanted a thorough
shake-up of the Vatican and those who did not, it appeared the
electors in the Sistine Chapel opted for compromise. Bergoglio has a
reputation for both political canniness and reforming drive. Among
the tests facing the 76-year-old will be the awesome managerial
demands of the job.
The
fumata bianca – the white smoke signal that marks the successful
conclusion of a conclave – arrived after five ballots at the end of
the second day of voting. The smoke that poured out of the comignolo,
the copper and steel tube on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, was
greeted with cries of delight and applause from the crowd below. Soon
after, the bells of St Peter's rang out, confirming that a new pope
had taken over the spiritual leadership of the world's 1.2 billion
baptised Catholics.
Inside
the Sistine Chapel after the final vote was cast, the most junior of
the cardinals, James Harvey, a former prefect of the papal household,
called in the secretary of the college of cardinals, Monsignor
Lorenzo Baldisseri, and the master of papal liturgical ceremonies,
Monsignor Guido Marini, to witness the new pope's acceptance of one
of the most daunting jobs on Earth.
The
most senior of the electors, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re,
approached the pope-to-be and – in accordance with tradition –
asked him in Latin: "Do you accept your canonical election as
supreme pontiff?"
Having
obtained his consent, he will have asked: "By what name do you
wish to be called?" The master of ceremonies, acting as a
notary, will then have summoned two of his staff to act as witnesses,
and prepared the document that certifies the new pope's acceptance.
Newly
elected popes are taken to be robed in the Room of Tears, its name an
indication of the reluctance with which most approach the task. The
last holder of the office, Benedict XVI, introduced a change in the
ritual that allows the new pope to pray before he is announced to the
world.
Benedict
abdicated on 28 February, saying that he was no longer able to cope
with the burden of his office. He was the first pontiff to resign
voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294.The world's Catholics will be
looking to his successor to provide not only spiritual inspiration
but also firm leadership. The new pope was chosen against a
background of turbulence and strife unprecedented in modern times. He
takes on the leadership of a church whose faithful have been shocked
by a proliferation of clerical sex abuse scandals throughout the rich
world and dismayed by events in and around the Vatican.
The
day for the 115 cardinal-electors began at about 6.30am local time in
the Casa Santa Marta, their simple but comfortable – and highly
protected – residence in the walled city state. After breakfast,
they made their way to the Apostolic Palace, the home of the popes,
for morning mass in the Pauline Chapel. By about 9.30am, they had
settled themselves into the Sistine Chapel for prayers and the
resumption of voting.
Benedict's
startling decision to resign came after years of mounting tension and
discreet but venomous infighting in the Roman Curia, the central
administration of the Catholic church. Last year, some of the pope's
correspondence, pointing to bitter rivalries and maladministration –
or worse – in the Vatican was published in book form.
Benedict's
butler, Paolo Gabriele, was tried and imprisoned for leaking the
documents, but the journalist to whom the papers were passed has said
that his source was part of a much broader network of disaffected
Vatican employees and officials. Gabriele's arrest coincided with a
renewed controversy over the Vatican bank, whose chairman was
summarily dismissed last May.
The
scandals – and a string of controversies over the pope's own
declarations – distracted attention from what was expected to be
the central theme of his papacy. Benedict came to the leadership of
the Catholic church as the pope who would begin the process of
re-evangelising an increasingly secular western world.
That
too will be an important challenge for his successor. In the approach
to the conclave several cardinals said they wanted a great pastor for
the world's biggest Christian denomination.
No
indication of how or why the new pope was chosen was expected to
emerge. On Tuesday, before the start of the conclave, the
cardinal-electors took an oath of secrecy, as had those Vatican
employees and officials involved in the election.
Additional
precautions included a sweep of the Sistine Chapel to ensure that no
listening devices had been planted inside and the use of electronic
jamming techniques.
Pope
Francis: questions remain over his role during Argentina's
dictatorship
Jorge
Bergoglio was head of the Jesuit order in the 1970s when the church
backed military government and called for patriotism
13
March, 2013
Despite
the joyful celebrations outside the Municipal Cathedral in Buenos
Aires yesterday, the news of Latin America's first pope was clouded
by lingering concerns about the role of the church – and its new
head – during Argentina's brutal military dictatorship.
The
Catholic church and Pope Francis have been accused of a complicit
silence and worse during the "dirty war" of murders and
abductions carried out by the junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 to
1983.
The
evidence is sketchy and contested. Documents have been destroyed and
many of those who were victims or perpetrators have died in the years
that followed. The moral argument is clear, but the reality of life
at that time put many people in a grey position. It was dangerous at
that time to speak out and risk being labelled a subversive. But
many, including priests and bishops, did so and subsequently
disappeared. Those who stayed silent have subsequently had to live
with their consciences — and sometimes the risk of a trial.
Its
behaviour during that dark period in Argentine history was so
unsaintly that in 2000 the Argentine Catholic church itself made a
public apology for its failure to take a stand against the generals.
"We want to confess before God everything we have done badly,"
Argentina's Episcopal Conference said at that time.
In
February, a court noted during the sentencing of three former
military men to life imprisonment for the killings of two priests
that the church hierarchy had "closed its eyes" to the
killing of progressive priests.
As
head of the Jesuit order from 1973 to 1979, Jorge Bergoglio – as
the new pope was known until yesterday – was a member of the
hierarachy during the period when the wider Catholic church backed
the military government and called for their followers to be
patriotic.
Bergoglio
twice refused to testify in court about his role as head of the
Jesuit order. When he eventually appeared in front of a judge in
2010, he was accused by lawyers of being evasive.
The
main charge against Bergoglio involves the kidnapping of two Jesuit
priests, Orland Yorio and Francisco Jalics, who were taken by Navy
officers in May 1976 and held under inhumane conditions for the
missionary work they conducted in the country's slums, a politically
risky activity at the time.
His
chief accuser is journalist Horacio Verbitsky, the author of a book
on the church called "El Silencio" ("The Silence"),
which claims that Bergoglio withdrew his order's protection from the
two priests, effectively giving the military a green light for their
abduction.
The
claims are based on conversations with Jalics, who was released after
his ordeal and later moved to a German monastery.
Bergoglio
has called the allegations "slander" and holds that, on the
contrary, he moved behind the scenes to save the lives of the two
priests and others that he secretly hid from the death squads. In one
case, he claims he even gave his identity papers to one dissident who
looked like him so that he could flee the country.
For
some, that makes him a hero. Other are sceptical. Eduardo de la
Serna, co-ordinator of a left-wing group of priests who focus on the
plight of the poor, told Radio del Plate that: "Bergoglio is a
man of power and he knows how position himself among powerful people.
I still have many doubts about his role regarding the Jesuits who
went missing under the dictatorship."
Many
in the church are keen to move on from that dark period in the
history of Argentina and the church. They say the new pope helped to
heal the wounds of the dirty war and to restore the credibility of
the Catholic hierarchy.
"As
archbishop, he faced a monumental task, and he was even accused of
collaboration with the dirty war, which he strenuously denied and was
ultimately cleared. If he can restore the credibility of the church
there [in Argentina], he can handle the scandals that have befallen
the church worldwide because he knows how to connect to the people"
said Ramon Luzarraga, theologian-in-residence at the University of
Dayton.
But
the issue is unlikely to go away any time soon, particularly while
high-profile trials are still taking place. This week a Buenos Aires
court sentenced the "Last Dictator" Reynaldo Bignone to
life in jail for crimes relating to the disappearance of 23 people,
including two pregnant women, when he was in power in the 1980s.
Argentine
Cardinal Named in Kidnap Lawsuit
17
April, 2005
A
human rights lawyer has filed a criminal complaint against an
Argentine cardinal mentioned as a possible contender to become pope,
accusing him of involvement in the 1976 kidnappings of two priests.
Cardinal
Jorge Mario Bergoglio's spokesman Saturday called the allegation "old
slander."
The
complaint filed in a court in the Argentine capital on Friday accused
Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, of involvement in the
abduction of two Jesuit priests by the military dictatorship,
reported the newspaper Clarin. The complaint does not specify the
nature of Bergoglio's alleged involvement.
Under
Argentine law, an accusation can be filed with a very low threshold
of evidence. A court then decides if there is cause to investigate
and file charges.
The
accusations against Bergoglio, 68, are detailed in a recent book by
Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky.
In
May 1976, priests Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics were kidnapped
by the navy. They surfaced five months later, drugged and seminude,
in a field.
At
the time, Bergoglio was the superior in the Society of Jesus of
Argentina.
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