Miles away from his native continent, Pope Francis's thoughts are with Latin America as Mexico’s level of violence continues to grow and impunity envelopes Argentina's human rights abuses.
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A delegation from the “Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo” led by their president Estela de Carlotto met with the Roman pontiff in the Vatican Thursday to request the support from the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Argentina to release all its information on 300 missing persons.
De Carlotto explained to the Pope that anything from baptismal records could assist in the search for the missing grandchildren. Recent archives discovered in the “Stella Maris” chapel from the former Army Mechanical School (ESMA) revealed that the area was used as a detention center in Buenos Aires during the regime.
Consequently, the Argentine military bishop, Santiago Olvera, had access to vital information which could not be released without the permission of the pontiff.
"(Olvera) told me that everything is there and that this discovery took him by surprise, that he gave advice on how to handle it, with great caution, because it is logical that there may be some data that suits us or not, but we want to see it,” Carlotto said.
The matronly gathering presented a letter to the pope explaining the difficult hurdles they have encountered and are hoping to avoid in order to access the information without further delay.
“In the letter we said that there are some difficulties for some who want to hear, because the process is very cumbersome: the Argentine justice must intervene, study it, send it and then here it is seen whether it corresponds or not,"
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"He is also very worried about what is happening in Mexico, so much death-so unusual- and (he) made reference to the fact that a few days ago they killed two priests," De Carlotto said, who had also travelled to Milan in order to receive the prestigious award of “Honoris Causa” in recognition for her courageous efforts as a human rights defender.
In the early hours of Monday, during an armed attack in the Mexican state of Guerrero, the parish priest of Las Vigas, Iván Añorve Jaimes, 37, and Mezcala, Germaín Muñiz García, 39, were murdered.
The Office of the Attorney General of Guerrero reported that these two Mexican priests were murdered by a criminal organization because of the alleged connection of some of them with a rival gang.
In answer to her request, the pope was very supportive and said the archives could be certified for authenticity and then duplicated for the organization on their return home to Argentina.