Pope Francis

[Lauren Johnson]

In November 2005, Cardinal Bergoglio was elected head of the Argentine Conference of Bishops for a three-year term, which was renewed in 2008. At the time he was chosen, the Argentine church was dealing with a notorious political scandal, that of the Rev. Christian von Wernich, a former chaplain of the Buenos Aires police who had been accused of aiding in the questioning, torture and death of political prisoners.

The church authorities had spirited Father von Wernich out of the country and placed him in a parish in Chile under a false name, but he was eventually brought back to Argentina and put on trial. In 2007, he was found guilty on seven counts of complicity in homicide, more than 40 counts of kidnapping and more than 30 of torture, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Father von Wernich was allowed to continue to celebrate Mass in prison, and in 2010 a church official said that "at the appropriate time, von Wernich's situation will have to be resolved in accordance with canonical law." But Cardinal Bergoglio never issued a formal apology on behalf of the church, or commented directly on the case, and during his tenure the bishops' conference was similarly silent.

Only in November 2012, a year after Cardinal Bergoglio had stepped down as head of the bishops' conference, did the group address the issue of its role during the dictatorship. It came in response to remarks in which the former dictator, General Videla, had, in the words of the statement the bishops issued, "attributed to those who then led the Conference complicity in criminal acts." The bishops' statement denied General Videla's accusation and claimed that church leaders of the time "tried to do what was within their reach for the welfare of all."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/world/...=2&hp&_r=0