(see related) Pope
Francis, who is Argentinian, was touched by news Wednesday that
Buenos Aires-based human rights activist Estela de Carlotto has
recovered her grandson, who was abducted at birth by the
military dictatorship of 1978-1983.
"The pope was very moved, as all of us Argentinians are,"
said Vatican master of ceremonies, Monsignor Guillermo Karcher.
"It touches upon a part of our history, and the fact that
Mrs. Carlotto found her grandson is a ray of light".
Carlotto met with Francis in 2013 to ask for help in the
decades-long search for the missing grandchildren of the
'desaparecidos', the missing, so-called because many of their
bodies have never been found.
The military dictatorship abducted, tortured and murdered
an estimated 30,000 people it said were dissidents, keeping an
estimated 500 babies born to pregnant detainees.
The children were sold or put up for adoption, and were
sometimes brought up by the those who murdered their parents.
Carlotto asked the pope to open Vatican and Church archives
in Argentina documenting the years in question, in hopes of
tracking down the missing children.
"You can count on me," Francis told her at the time.
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