c. 1997 Religion News Service

Cardinal denies complicity in Argentina’s”dirty war” (RNS) The Roman Catholic Church’s role in Argentina’s”dirty war”against dissidents was raised anew Wednesday (May 21) when the former Vatican envoy to Argentina characterized as”slanderous”accusations made against him by a human rights group.

In a formal complaint, the Argentine group, known as Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, asked the Italian Justice Ministry to prosecute Italian Cardinal Pio Laghi for participating in the illegal repression during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship in which many leftist opponents of the regime were killed.

But Laghi, now prefect for the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, said his activities during his 1974-1980 tenure in Argentina as papal envoy, had been well documented and there is no truth to the accusations,”either morally or legally.” An Argentine commission that investigated the tawdry deeds of the military dictatorship effectively cleared Laghi of complicity when it decided not to pursue a case against him.

Like many Catholic leaders during those turbulent years when communism was considered a threat to Latin America, Laghi openly supported the military coup of 1976.

In fact, the repressive tactics used by the military, which some say killed as many as 30,000, has been something of an embarrassment for the church. Many bishops and priests openly supported the regime. Only in recent years have Catholic leaders admitted some guilt for the savage acts.

In their complaint, the Argentine rights group, whose core is made up of mothers and other relatives of those who”disappeared”during the military regime, allege that Laghi worked with the military government to identify political dissidents who were tortured, killed and kidnapped.”Pio Laghi was the director of a crusade against communism that sent thousands of youths to their deaths,”the group said in their complaint.

The group said it could furnish witnesses who saw Laghi at the government’s prisons and torture centers.

The Vatican had no comment on the allegations.

Laghi, a former papal nuncio in Washington, said in a statement the accusations against him were”slanderous and devoid of any content or foundation.””I have received from the bishops of Argentina, the heads of the Jewish community, priests, religious and the faithful numerous written testimonials of gratitude for what I was able to do in that period to defend all those I met who were suffering,”he said.

Church of Scotland urged to consider adopting office of bishop

(RNS) The (Prebyterian) Church of Scotland should consider adopting the office of bishop as part of its governing structure, the church’s top ecumenical officer said.

The Rev. Duncan McClements of Fulkirk, Scotland, told the denomination’s annual general assembly that the church’s current method of oversight and pastoral care of ministers has been less than effective.

The notion of bishops has been an anathema to Scottish Presbyterians since the 17th century, when Stuart kings were thought to have abused the episcopacy in order to control Scotland from London.

McClements, however, said it is time to revisit the issue because the present system isn’t working in two key areas of church life.”One of these is the pastoral care of of ministers _ and of congregations taken as units _ and the other is in the spearheading and promotion of mission in areas larger than one parish,”he said.”We have experimented with various approaches, but it could be the office of bishop is one gift that we could accept from a sister church (the Anglican church) that might remedy that weakness.” He also pointed to the Hungarian Reformed Church, a Presbyterian church that has bishops.

In other action at the general assembly, delegates agreed to set up a hotline for victims of sexual and physical abuse in clergy families and voted by an overwhelming majority to urge establsihment of a government commission to study issues involved in legalizing marijuana.

The delegates also rejected a request by the Scottish branch of the Orange Order _ the militant Protestant organization formed in the 18th century to uphold Protestant domination of Ireland _ to be allowed to use the denomination’s Assembly Hall in Edinburgh to commemorate the group’s 200th anniversary in Scotland.

The Scottish church’s action came as Mo Mowlam, Britain’s Northern Ireland minister, visited flashpoints in the troubled province in an effort to reduce tensions over the annual parades held by Orange groups each summer.

Last year, when police in Northern Ireland refused to allow the militant Protestants to march through a largely Roman Catholic neighborhood in Portadown, riots erupted and at least two Catholics were killed.

In Scotland, leaders of the Church of Scotland also turned down a request from the Orange Order to use the assembly hall for a May 3 worship service intended to follow an Orange parade through Edinburgh.

Officials, citing the denomination’s”very good relationship”with the Catholic Church, said allowing the use of the hall would send”a divisive message”and”give out the wrong vibes.”

Wiesel criticizes U.S. for failing to intervene in Bosnia

(RNS) Elie Wiesel, saying that”morality means intervention,”Tuesday (May 20) criticized the United States for its failure to intervene in the Bosnian civil war.”If we had intervened immediately there would have been no massacres,”Wiesel said during a luncheon speech at the National Press Club in Washington.”We must never give violence or evil time to gain strength or solidify it’s position.” Wiesel’s speech came 53 years to the day after the last convoy of people from his childhood home in Sighet, Romania, left to face death during the Holocaust. The convoy departed two weeks before D-Day, which Wiesel cited as an example of appropriate international intervention during World War II.

Wiesel, the winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, said the world has come to the end of a very strange century filled with cruelty.

Speaking of the importance of intervention to prevent massive violations of human rights, he also asked why the world waited and watched the massacres in Rwanda.

Wiesel urged the more than 300 listeners to abide by what he called an 11th biblical commandant:”Thou shall not stand idly by.” He said America’s leaders, whether Democrats or Republicans, should not fail to intervene for reasons of”national interest.””A great nation is great because of its moral strength,”Wiesel said.”Morality means intervention.” Update: Britain to scrap landmines, joins international ban effort

(RNS) The new Labor government said on Wednesday (May 21) it will destroy all of Britain’s anti-personnel landmines by 2005 and will not replace them with so-called”smart mines,”which self-detonate after a certain period.”They (landmines) have done enormous carnage, often to wholly innocent civilans, including children,”prime Minister Tony Blair told Parliament.”The sooner that Britain gives a lead on this, the better. It is the right and civilized thing to do.” Blair said the government would ban the import, export and manufacture of landmines.

Government officials said Britain also intended to sign the so-called Ottawa Process, a Canadian initiative that will bring nations together at the end of the year to sign a treaty to ban production, stockpiling, export and use of mines.

So far, some 50 nations have committed themselves to the Ottawa Process. Last week, U.S. religious groups _ led by Church World Service, the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, and Lutheran World Relief _ spent two days lobbying Congress and the White House urging the United States to join the effort.

But U.S. officials said it would not join the pact because China and Russia _ two major producers of mines _ are not signed on. The United States says the Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Disarmament is the more appropriate forum for working out a universal ban.

Quote of the day: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

(RNS) Religious and political conservative activists have been floating the idea of using the impeachment process to reign in liberal”activist”judges. In a speech to a meeting of the Anti-Defamation League, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, considered one of the most conservative members of the High Court, said it was a bad idea:”I don’t think that’s going anywhere. I think … it shouldn’t go anywhere. I think we have enough respect for our courts, enough understanding in the country that if you let the legislature intrude too much on the judiciary, we’ll be in trouble.”

MJP END RNS