Argentina’s Catholic bishops will hand over more than 100 baptism certificates of babies born to political prisoners in a torture centre during the country’s dictatorship. The bishops say their decision came in light of a “longing of Pope Francis”, who was the former bishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Francis has promised human rights groups Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Argentina’
Imprisonment without hope is like torture says Pope
Monday, August 28th, 2017
Imprisonment without offering the prisoners hope in the future is the same as torturing them, says Pope Francis. While he agrees prisoners must pay the price for the crimes they have committed, the punishment can be effective “only when inmates are helped to look toward the future rather than only back at a past lived Read more
Police raid cloistered convent of Discalced Carmelites
Friday, September 16th, 2016Police raided a cloistered convent of Discalced Carmelites after a magazine published testimony from two former nuns, who claimed they were subjected to elements of torture and that the abbess wouldn’t allow them to leave the cloister. After the police raid in the northeastern province of Entre Rios, Argentina in late August, the two nuns Read more
Pope picks Protestant to edit Argentine Catholic paper
Friday, July 15th, 2016Pope Francis has chosen a Protestant theologian to edit an Argentine version of L’Osservatore Romano. Marcelo Figueroa is a personal friend of the Pope’s. Beginning in September, Mr Figueroa will edit an Argentine publication that combines material from the weekly Spanish-language edition of L’Osservatore Romano with local content. The publication is an attempt to ensure that the Pope’s Read more
Petition backs Francis against brutal campaign in Argentina
Tuesday, July 5th, 2016
Priests working in slums in Argentina have issued a petition defending Pope Francis against what they call a “brutal campaign against him”. The priests, together with a lay group, say there are attacks “of every kind” against the Pope, Crux reported. Local media and political leaders have either tried to claim Francis as their own Read more
Pope tricked into seeming to back Falkland Islands campaign
Friday, August 21st, 2015
Pope Francis has been drawn into Argentina’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands after a brief incident at a general audience. During the Pope’s audience on August 19, an activist from the “Dialogue for Malvinas” campaign thrust a sign towards Francis’s hands as he passed by. It read: “It’s time for Argentina and Britain Read more
Pope’s visit to South America recalls a dirty war
Friday, July 10th, 2015
Angela “Lita” Boitano was standing about 50 meters away from her daughter Adriana when a car pulled up carrying a group of men who she later learned were Argentinian military policemen dressed as civilians. They grabbed 24-year-old Adriana and bundled her into the car before speeding away. Lita never saw her daughter again. It was Read more
Pope orders Vatican to open its files on Argentina junta
Friday, May 1st, 2015
Pope Francis has ordered the Vatican to open its files on Argentina’s military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. The Pope’s order came after a meeting he had last week with Lita Boitano, 83, whose two sons “disappeared” during the dictatorship. They were among the 20,000 people who were made to “disappear” by the Argentinian authorities, Read more
Pope says theologians must not be desk bound
Friday, March 13th, 2015
Pope Francis has called on theologians not to settle for the “theology of the desk”, but to “smell of the people and of the road”. In a letter to the theological faculty of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, the Pope used language he had previously applied to pastors. According to an article in the National Read more
Mexico calls in papal ambassador over Francis remark
Friday, February 27th, 2015The Mexican government has complained to a papal ambassador after Pope Francis warned against “Mexicanisation” in a letter. The Pope’s remark came in a private letter to a director of an Argentine NGO that tries to combat drug crime. Francis wrote, “I hope we’re in time to avoid Mexicanisation. I was talking to some Mexican Read more