Jorge Bergoglio's Contested Past

[poliphilo]

There's a nasty rumour going the rounds that Pope Francis (when head of the Jesuits in Argentina) betrayed two of his priests to the junta. I've no idea if it's true but it wouldn't surprise me. The sort of people who get to the top of the Catholic hierarchy tend to be the sort of people who find military dictatorships simpatico. They too are used to giving orders and having them obeyed.

Caesar and the heirs of St Peter got off to a rocky start in their relationship but came to a mutually satisfactory arrangement over 1,500 years ago.

Comments

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I expect any official body trying to keep going in times of dictatorship have to make some horrible "Sophie's Choice" type compromises. Difficult to stay clean under some circumstances without getting obliterated.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's true, but the Catholic Church has often chosen (without compulsion) to side with military dictators- Franco for example.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I'm a historian as you know.

Don't get me going on this sort of betrayal!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

All institutions- however and for whatever purpose they were conceived- end up being chiefly concerned with their own survival.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

There's a story in the Grauniad on the matter, which may prove worth a few minutes.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I begin to be persuaded that the humility is all just theatre. It doesn't, after all, cost the man anything to wear a wooden cross in place of a gold one.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

My own crucifix is wooden- It was a gift from a friend who visited Bethlehem and it's made from the local olive wood which is very attractive.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Gold is a nasty vulgar metal.