Kidnapped Jesuit says future Pope France was blameless in his Argentine detention

March 21, 2013

One of two Jesuits who were kidnapped and held for 5 months by Argentina’s military regime has issued a new statement making it clear that he does not believe the future Pope Francis was responsible for his incarceration.

“The fact is: Orlando Yorio and I were not denounced by Father Bergoglio,” said Father Francisco Jalics.

At the time of the kidnapping, then-Father Bergoglio was the Jesuit provincial in Argentina. Father Jalics admits that after their release, he and Father Yorio suspected that they had been denounced. But as he learned more about Father Bergoglio’s efforts to secure their freedom, he said, “it became clear to me that this suspicion was unfounded.”

Father Yorio, who is now deceased, has been quoted as saying that Father Bergoglio was responsible for the Jesuits’ long detention. As Father Matthew Lamb has pointed out, that statement was made by Father Yorio “before he was able to learn about what in fact his provincial had done.”

 

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Further information:

• Pope Francis did not denounce me to Argentinian junta, says priest (Guardian)
• Pope Francis and allegations amid the fog of a war (CNA)