Report: Pope pledged to help kidnapped priest

GERMANY
KENS

BERLIN (AP) — A German newspaper says it has discovered a decades-old letter in which the future Pope Francis pledged to fight for the release of a fellow priest who had been kidnapped by the Argentine junta that was in power from 1976-1983.

Weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung says Jorge Mario Bergoglio wrote to the family of Rev. Francisco Jalics in 1976 to tell them about his attempts to secure the priest’s release despite differences the two men had.

The paper’s report Sunday cites the pope saying in his letter he would “do everything” to free Jalics.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.