Argentine Catholic Church investigates the institution's role during the dictatorship.

RFI - Two volumes of nearly a thousand pages each, and a third in the process of publication, constitute the voluminous investigation by the Argentine Catholic Church into its actions during the last dictatorship (1976-1983), a mea culpa dedicated to the memory of the victims.

“We want to know the historical truth and ask forgiveness from God, the Argentine community, and the victims of violence,” state the members of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA) in the book's introduction. “We are aware that in many decisions, actions, and omissions, the CEA has not risen to the occasion,” they add.

The book, which also covers the violent decade preceding the coup of March 24, 1976, is published as Argentina celebrates 40 years since its return to democracy. It shows everything from the initial support of the ecclesiastical hierarchy for the military junta to attempts to help the victims and the very "martyrdom" of murdered bishops, priests, and nuns.

"It was a requirement that the Episcopal Conference had to respond to the very serious accusations made, especially in the trials" for crimes against humanity, sociologist Fortunato Mallimaci, a specialist in relations between the Church and society, told AFP.

"It has always been alleged that priests participated in or covered up torture. It is very interesting that this work is being done, which human rights groups have been demanding. And it constitutes a great contribution by showing all the victims," ​​said Mallimaci.

Titled "The truth will set you free," the investigation was conducted by the Catholic University of Argentina over five years, at the request of the Episcopal Conference, which made its archives available for this purpose.

The authors Carlos Galli, Juan Durán, Luis Liberti, and Federico Tavelli also used archives from the Society of Jesus, the Apostolic Nunciature, and the Holy See.

'Pain from the past in the present'

"With this book, we have a start that can bear fruit," Tavelli said.

"There is information that chaplains and nuns participated in the disappearances of people and the appropriation of babies. But this is not institutional information found in the archives. We think that if the Church says we shouldn't be afraid of the past, this could motivate those who know something to come to us, even anonymously. The pain is not only from the past, but persists in the present," she told AFP.

For Galli, this work was an outstanding task. "I already suffered in the 1970s from missing relatives, friends and colleagues. What I felt now was responsibility," he told AFP.

"We have an academic purpose, which is to record the memory. We didn't give the volumes to anyone to read beforehand. We are researchers, we didn't turn this into a catechism," he stated.

During the Argentine dictatorship, thousands of people were taken to clandestine prisons, tortured, murdered, or disappeared. Hundreds of babies born in captivity were taken from their mothers and illegally given to other families.

The book analyzes the actions the Church took in response to these crimes and also lists its members who were victims.

“There were 24 priests murdered, more than a dozen nuns, two bishops (Enrique Angelelli and Carlos Ponce de León), and hundreds and hundreds of Catholics. It was a Catholicism that had both victims and perpetrators,” said Mallimaci.

Bergoglio and the Jesuits

The investigation does not shy away from controversial episodes and dedicates a chapter to the kidnapping of Jesuit priests Francisco Jalics and Orlando Yorio and to the role played by the then ecclesiastical superior Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, who was questioned at the time of his enthronement by some human rights advocates.

The two Jesuits were arrested and tortured for five months in 1976 by military forces who removed them from a poor neighborhood in Buenos Aires, where they were doing pastoral work. The book compiles the letters Bergoglio wrote at the time and recounts the efforts he made with the nuncio Pio Laghi to secure the religious figures' freedom.

The authors also refer to previously unknown episodes, such as a meeting on August 8, 1978, between Nuncio Laghi and dictator Jorge Videla at the presidential residence, in which the military officer acknowledged that there were missing persons and estimated their number at around 2.000 or 3.000.

"The nuncio left Argentina in 1981 and produced a report in which he stated that the disappearances were part of a clandestine and predetermined plan," said Tavelli.

Human rights organizations claim that the dictatorship left approximately 30 people missing.

While Argentina has convicted more military personnel than any other country in the world, with 862 convictions and over 3 indicted, Brazil has not brought anyone to trial, protected by the 1979 Amnesty Law.