Baseless smears against Pope being used by "anti-clerical left-wing elements" to attack the Church

"The Vatican on Friday jumped to the defense of the Catholic Church's new leader, Pope Francis, to counter critics who say he didn't speak out enough during the Dirty War that divided his home country, Argentina, from 1976 to 1983. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the accusations against the pope — the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio — are baseless smears being used by "anti-clerical left-wing elements" to attack the church. "There has never been a credible, concrete accusation against him," Lombardi said. What, exactly, do the pope's critics claim he did — or didn't do?"

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