Pope Francis used WhatsApp to stay connected to torture survivor of Argentina’s ‘Dirty War’

At age 16, Ana María Careaga was pregnant and kidnapped during the regime of terror. Her story is one Pope Francis never forgot, sending WhatsApp voice notes and videos throughout the years to mark anniversaries.

Ana María Careaga was just 16 when she was kidnapped, stolen by the regime then running Argentina. To her mother, Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, it was as if she had vanished. It was an event that would change not just the lives of both the women and the daughter Ana María was carrying, but the future of Argentina. And it was something a priest named Jorge Bergoglio would never forget. It was 1977 and Argentina was under the grip of a military dictatorship following a coup the year before. Those who opposed the regime were abducted, tortured, and killed – victims of what would become known as the “Dirty War.” There was no notification or public record of the detentions, and families had no idea what had happened to their loved ones. By the time Ana María was seized, her brother-in-law had already disappeared. Soldiers took her to the clandestine detention center known as El Atlético, where she was tortured – even after she told her captors she was three months pregnant. Although the extrajudicial kidnappings were becoming increasingly common, families did not speak of them — until mothers took a stand.