DHAKA: Pope Francis on Saturday met Father Franz Jalics, a priest whose kidnapping and torture by Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship led to accusations that the future pope failed to help.

The Vatican has firmly denied these claims and there have since been many reports of the ‘quiet diplomacy’ used by the then head of the Jesuit order in Argentina, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

There was no official word on the content of the talks between the Pope and Father Jalics, who was born in Hungary and now lives in a German monastery.

Pope Francis has said he experienced ‘a period of great internal crisis’ at the time of the junta and admitted to making mistakes in his leadership, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2116 HRS, OCT 05, 2013
RoR/RIS