Vargas Llosa is survived by his children.

He refused for decades to counter that version of events. Only in a 2010 authorized biography did he finally recount the lengths he used to save them, persuading the family priest of feared dictator Jorge Videla to call in sick so he could celebrate Mass instead. Once in the junta leader’s home, Bergoglio privately appealed for mercy. Both priests were eventually released, among the few to have survived prison.As pope, accounts began to emerge of the many people — priests, seminarians and political dissidents —whom Bergoglio actually saved during the “dirty war,” letting them stay incognito at the seminary or helping them escape the country.

Bergoglio went to Germany in 1986 to research a never-finished thesis. Returning to Argentina, he was stationed in Cordoba during a period he described as a time of “great interior crisis.” Out of favor with more progressive Jesuit leaders, he was eventually rescued from obscurity in 1992 by St. John Paul II, who named him an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. He became archbishop six years later, and was made a cardinal in 2001.He came close to becoming pope in 2005 when Benedict was elected, gaining the second-most votes in several rounds before bowing out.Pope Francis waves faithfuls after celebrating over New Year’s Eve Vespers and Te Deum, in St.Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis waves faithfuls after celebrating over New Year’s Eve Vespers and Te Deum, in St.Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the camerlengo’s last name. It is Farrell, not Ferrell.

Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed from Milan.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s“We don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow. And frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin,” Rubio told reporters in Antalya, Turkey, where he was attending a

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier welcomed Zelenskyy to the presidential palace in Ankara for their own talks. Zelenskyy heads Friday to Albania for a gathering of European officials.Ayse Sahil, whose family emigrated from Bolshevik in Russia, holds a board near Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)

Ayse Sahil, whose family emigrated from Bolshevik in Russia, holds a board near Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)The diplomatic maneuvering began Saturday when European leaders met Zelenskyy in Kyiv and urged the Kremlin to agree to a