Religion & Law

The Church and the Dirty War

By Rick Garnett

Michael asks, "[w]ill someone please tell us what the Argentine bishops of the Catholic Church--my Church, our Church--were doing during [the "Dirty War" in Argentina]?   And, what does it say that this 'Christian' nation was capable--and that these 'Christians' were capable- of such horror?" 

Answering the second sentence seems (to me) easier than the first.  I suppose it says -- or, it confirms -- what Christianity teaches:  We -- Christians -- sin.  Badly.  Often.  With respect to the first question, the Times ran a story, a few months ago, that might be of interest.  Here is the link.  And, a bit:

Argentina is finally confronting the church?s dark past during the dirty war, when it sometimes gave its support to the military as it went after leftist opponents.

That past stands in stark contrast to the role the church played during the dictatorships in Chile and Brazil, where priests and bishops publicly condemned the governments and worked to save those being persecuted from torture and death. . . .

Are there MOJ readers who know more?  I'd want to know, specifically, from those with relevant expertise whether (what seems to me to be) the widely accepted view -- one that, I should say, my own understanding reflects -- that clergy and Church leaders were culpably complicit in the Dirty War rests on a firm, factual foundation (unlike, say, the "Hitler's Pope" attack on Pope Pius XII.)

Full post as published by Mirror of Justice on January 14, 2008 (boomark / email).