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Argentine priest conviction puts Church in hot seat
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
Reuters - Oct 10, 2007 6:00 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN10275964
Argentine priest conviction puts Church in hot seat
By Hilary Burke
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A Roman Catholic priest's conviction
on crimes against humanity during Argentina's "dirty war" has revived
demands that the Church apologize for its murky role under military
rule.
The Catholic Church was quick to condemn Christian Von Wernich's
involvement in kidnapping, torture and killing during the 1976-1983
dictatorship after he was found guilty at trial on Tuesday.
But human rights groups want a broader mea culpa for what they describe
as the hierarchy's support for the military junta and its silence on
dirty war atrocities, which contrasted with church opposition to
repressive military rule in Chile and Brazil.
"The Church wants us to seek forgiveness when we commit sins. Well, I'm
waiting for the Church to ask for forgiveness," said Estela de
Carlotto, head of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group that
searches for babies born in detention centers during the dictatorship
and given away in clandestine adoptions.
"After all the investigations into the role played by the majority of
its hierarchy, the Church must go much further," said Rodolfo
Mattarollo, the government's undersecretary for human rights. "There
should be a recognition of their omissions and the open collaboration
that existed in some cases."
Argentina's Episcopal Conference said it was pained by a priest's
participation in such crimes and called for reconciliation. "This is a
call to distance ourselves from impunity, but also from hate and
rancor," it said.
The diocese to which Von Wernich belongs, in northern Buenos Aires
province, also condemned his actions. But the bishop in the town of
Nueve de Julio did not immediately revoke his right to give communion
or lead mass.
"We lament that there has been so much division and hatred in our
nation, which the Church neither knew how to prevent nor cure," the
bishop said in a statement.
Many rights activists view such comments as doublespeak, and accuse the
Church of equating the sometimes-violent leftist insurgencies of the
1970s with the dictatorship's systematic killing of leftist dissidents.
'MODEL RULING'
President Nestor Kirchner, a center-leftist who persuaded Congress to
overturn amnesty laws protecting rights abusers from prosecution for
dictatorship-era crimes, described Von Wernich's conviction to life
imprisonment as a model ruling.
"It was an important day for consolidating Argentina's democracy,"
Kirchner said in a televised speech.
Some investigations have been reopened into the deaths and
disappearances of between 11,000 and 30,000 people during the dirty war
purge of dissidents, which also swept up Argentines who were not
involved in politics.
Extreme leftist groups also staged violent attacks around the time of
the dictatorship, planting bombs and killing business executives and
police and military officers.
"Our Father Christian had to bury the victims of terrorism in police
ranks and console widows and orphans ... for whom there was not one
minute of silence in that courtroom," a Von Wernich supporter said in
an email sent to news organizations.
Some Argentines seem ready to leave the past behind, however, 24 years
after the dictatorship ended.
"It's the same difference if (the Church) asks for forgiveness or not,"
said Matias Pretel, a young man taking his lunch break at a park
downtown. "It's in the past." (Additional reporting by Katie Paul)
(c) Reuters 2006. All rights reserved
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
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Hash: SHA1
Argentine priest conviction puts Church in hot seat
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
Reuters - Oct 10, 2007 6:00 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN10275964
Argentine priest conviction puts Church in hot seat
By Hilary Burke
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A Roman Catholic priest's conviction
on crimes against humanity during Argentina's "dirty war" has revived
demands that the Church apologize for its murky role under military
rule.
The Catholic Church was quick to condemn Christian Von Wernich's
involvement in kidnapping, torture and killing during the 1976-1983
dictatorship after he was found guilty at trial on Tuesday.
But human rights groups want a broader mea culpa for what they describe
as the hierarchy's support for the military junta and its silence on
dirty war atrocities, which contrasted with church opposition to
repressive military rule in Chile and Brazil.
"The Church wants us to seek forgiveness when we commit sins. Well, I'm
waiting for the Church to ask for forgiveness," said Estela de
Carlotto, head of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group that
searches for babies born in detention centers during the dictatorship
and given away in clandestine adoptions.
"After all the investigations into the role played by the majority of
its hierarchy, the Church must go much further," said Rodolfo
Mattarollo, the government's undersecretary for human rights. "There
should be a recognition of their omissions and the open collaboration
that existed in some cases."
Argentina's Episcopal Conference said it was pained by a priest's
participation in such crimes and called for reconciliation. "This is a
call to distance ourselves from impunity, but also from hate and
rancor," it said.
The diocese to which Von Wernich belongs, in northern Buenos Aires
province, also condemned his actions. But the bishop in the town of
Nueve de Julio did not immediately revoke his right to give communion
or lead mass.
"We lament that there has been so much division and hatred in our
nation, which the Church neither knew how to prevent nor cure," the
bishop said in a statement.
Many rights activists view such comments as doublespeak, and accuse the
Church of equating the sometimes-violent leftist insurgencies of the
1970s with the dictatorship's systematic killing of leftist dissidents.
'MODEL RULING'
President Nestor Kirchner, a center-leftist who persuaded Congress to
overturn amnesty laws protecting rights abusers from prosecution for
dictatorship-era crimes, described Von Wernich's conviction to life
imprisonment as a model ruling.
"It was an important day for consolidating Argentina's democracy,"
Kirchner said in a televised speech.
Some investigations have been reopened into the deaths and
disappearances of between 11,000 and 30,000 people during the dirty war
purge of dissidents, which also swept up Argentines who were not
involved in politics.
Extreme leftist groups also staged violent attacks around the time of
the dictatorship, planting bombs and killing business executives and
police and military officers.
"Our Father Christian had to bury the victims of terrorism in police
ranks and console widows and orphans ... for whom there was not one
minute of silence in that courtroom," a Von Wernich supporter said in
an email sent to news organizations.
Some Argentines seem ready to leave the past behind, however, 24 years
after the dictatorship ended.
"It's the same difference if (the Church) asks for forgiveness or not,"
said Matias Pretel, a young man taking his lunch break at a park
downtown. "It's in the past." (Additional reporting by Katie Paul)
(c) Reuters 2006. All rights reserved
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
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