Argentina 1976 to 1980: The state report "Nunca Más" reproduces testimony about clergy who were present at torture, justified it or gave relatives information on the disappeared

In its 1984 report "Nunca Más", the state commission CONADEP devotes a section to the attitude of individual members of the Church. It records that the bishops' conference repeatedly condemned the methods of repression, but that members of the clergy committed such acts or endorsed them by their presence, silence and words of justification. It reproduces testimony about the priest von Wernich, Monsignor Grasselli of the Military Vicariate, the prison chaplains Cacabello and Pelanda López and Bishop Medina of Jujuy. These are statements made to the commission, not findings of a court.

Period

1976-1980 (4 years)

Country

Argentina

Institutions

Catholic Church in Argentina
Military Vicariate of Argentina

Category

Agreements with dictatorships, Torture, Persecution

Level of evidence

A Primary source · what does this mean?

Persons

Christian Von Wernich (Catholic priest, named in testimony to the commission)
Grasselli (Monsignor, secretary to the Military Vicar, named in testimony to the commission)
Cacabello (priest at Caseros prison, named in testimony to the commission)
Pelanda López (chaplain, named in testimony to the commission)
Miguel Medina (Bishop of Jujuy, named in testimony to the commission)

Background

Response of the Church

1. The commission records that the Argentine episcopate repeatedly condemned the methods of repression it investigated: less than two months after the coup of 24 March 1976 the bishops' conference called the methods a "sin", and a further document followed in May 1977.
   Evidence: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org), Kap. I, Abschnitt I, Einleitung

   „El Episcopado Argentino condenó reiteradamente la modalidad represiva que investigó esta Comisión.“

2. At the same time the commission finds that members of the clergy committed these acts or endorsed them by their presence, by silence and even by words of justification, although the episcopate had condemned them.
   Evidence: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org), Kap. I, Abschnitt I, Einleitung

   „hubo miembros del clero que cometieron o aval aron con su presencia, con su silencio y hasta con palabras justificatorias estos mismos hechos que habían sido condenados por el Episcopado“

3. Several relatives of the disappeared stated that Monsignor Grasselli, secretary to the Military Vicar, kept files or lists in his office and gave them information. According to one statement, a cross on his list meant that the person was dead. According to another complaint he said that the young people were being rehabilitated in special houses and that "someone merciful" might give an injection to the "irrecoverable".
   Evidence: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org), Kap. I, Abschnitt I, Legajo 431

   „Monseñor Grasselli, entonces secretario del Vicario Castrense“

   Evidence: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org), Kap. I, Abschnitt I, Legajo 1526

   „aquellos que tenían una cruz quería decir que estaban muertos, si no, que estaban vivos“

   Evidence: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org), Kap. I, Abschnitt I, Legajo 1560

   „es posible que "alguien piadoso" le dé una inyección y el irrecuperable se duerme para siempre“

4. Witnesses testified that Bishop Miguel Medina of Jujuy stated in a sermon in Villa Gorriti prison that what was happening was for the good of the fatherland and that the military were acting rightly, and offered to hear the prisoners' confessions so that they would communicate all they knew. Eulogia Cordero de Garnica testified that he told her she would learn where her children were if she told everything.
   Evidence: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org), Kap. I, Abschnitt I, Legajo 4841

   „todo eso ocurría en bien de la Patria y que los militares estaban obrando bien y que debíamos comunicar todo lo que sabíamos para lo cual el se ofrecía a recibir confesiones“

   Evidence: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org), Kap. I, Abschnitt I, Legajo 4859

   „me insistió en que debía hablar y decir todo, y entonces iba a saber dónde estaban mis hijos“

See also

• 1976-1977 · 1 year

  Christian von Wernich, police chaplain during the Argentine military dictatorship

  • Argentina
  • Torture
  • Murder
  • Persecution

Original documents to read

1. Government report
   Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, Argentinien (online bei desaparecidos.org): Nunca Más. Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas (CONADEP), Kap. I, Abschnitt I: Sobre actitudes de algunos miembros de la Iglesia, 1 January 1984. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)

Last changed on 31 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.