El Semanario 'El Sur' in Arequipa Speaks of the SCV; Sodalicios Respond

There is little available at the moment regarding this story. What appears to have happened, according to the Director of the weekly publication 'El Sur', is a controversy stemming from an article published on the Sodality of Christian Life.

The Director, Valerio Andia Carreòn, notes that this recent story has to do with similar allegation against the group - their brainwashing of youth - and new allegations ranging from the strange company kept by Luis Fernando Figari to the Sodality of Christian Life being in the business of the dead (through the sale of funeral/cemetery paraphernalia).

Like the very immediate responses made by Sodality members in previous exposés (see: Agencia Peru and Careta's coverage of the Sodality), Sr. Carreón claims that the Sodality of Christian Life members have threatened the weekly paper with the following statements: 'we are going to sue you' and 'the judges are our professors (at the University of Saint Paul in Arequipa, a Sodalit-run institution)'.

The Director of Communications and Institutional Relations of the Sodality, Miguel A. Jaramillo Luján, has allegedly placed phone calls trying to attract people from the weekly publication 'El Sur' offering 'juicy contracts to work with the University/Sodalits'.

The Argentine Bishop

Taken From BBC:

Christian Von Wernich, 69, was convicted for involvement in seven murders, 42 abductions and 31 cases of torture during the 1976-83 "Dirty War".

At the trial, several former prisoners said the former Roman Catholic priest used his office to win their trust before passing information to police torturers and killers in secret detention centres.

They say he attended several torture sessions and absolved the police of blame, telling them they were doing God's work.

"Von Wernich participated assiduously and maintained direct contacts with the detainees," the prosecution said in its indictment.

Father Von Wernich's lawyers said the case against him had more doubts than certainties and that he had been obliged to visit police detention centres as part of his duties.

The priest said he had never violated the prohibition against revealing information obtained in the sacrament of confession and accused those torture victims who gave evidence in court of being influenced by the devil.

"False testimony is of the devil, because he is responsible for malice and is the father of evil and lies," he said.

Taken From Catholic News Agency:

The executive committee of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina issued a statement on Tuesday calling on Argentineans to reconciliation in the wake of the life sentence imposed on Father Christian Von Wernich, accused of having contributed to the violation of human rights during the military dictatorship.

Von Wernich, 69, was chaplain of the police force of Buenos Aires during the military dictatorship of 1976-1983 and was found guilty of “crimes against humanity” and sentenced to life in prison.

Upon news of the verdict, the bishops of Argentina immediately issued a statement saying the Church in Argentina “is shaken by the sorrow we feel over the participation by a priest in serious crimes, according to the sentence by the Federal Court.”

“We believe that the steps taken by the courts to clear these matters up should serve to renew the efforts of all citizens in the journey to reconciliation and are a call to back away from both impunity and hatred or anger,” the statement said.

The Argentinean bishops reiterated what they said in 2000: “If some member of the Church, no matter what their condition, recommended or was complicit in these acts (the violent repression), he or she was acting under their own responsibility, erring and seriously sinning against God, humanity and his or her conscience.”