BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – At the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Caacupé, in Barracks, a Buenos Aires neighborhood, people have been gathering daily to share their jubilation over the election of their former parish priest as Pope Francis.

"We are still flying, we have not woken up," said Rita Espinola. "We thought it would be the Brazilian, then the Italian. And then they said ‘Bergoglio’ and cheers overflowed our neighborhood.”

The church is the heart of this low-income community of some 35,000, many of them maids and construction workers.

"This poor, humble place burst with joy when we heard the news," said Father Facundo Berretta, the new leader of the parish who was ordained by the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2007.

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Parishioners say they are grateful Bergoglio continued to visit them, even as he climbed through the ranks of the Catholic Church, reaching the position of archbishop and cardinal in 2001. They describe seeing Bergoglio in his robes getting off the bus a few blocks from the church to join them in religious processions.   

But not all Argentines are such fans. Some critics allege that Bergoglio failed to protect priests and challenge the military dictatorship during Argentina’s so-called “dirty war” from 1976 to 1983.

The Vatican strongly denied the accusations that Francis was silent during human rights abuses by the former dictatorship on Friday. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters the accusations “must be clearly and firmly denied.”

Dark chapter
Still, the elevation of Bergoglio to pope did not stop others from alleging he did not do enough to protect those persecuted by the dictatorship during Argentina’s darkest days.

On Thursday “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" marched around the square in front of the National Cathedral, as they do every Thursday afternoon, demanding justice for their children who disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

The mothers, who formed their group in 1977, have long demanded that they be reunited with their missing children. Military leaders have admitted that more than 9,000 are unaccounted for; but the mothers say the number is closer to 30,000.  

One leader of the group, Ines Vazquez, said Francis is now blessing the world, but he didn't offer blessings for those who were hurt during the time of the dictatorship. She questioned whether the pope will do something to help the mothers' cause in the future.

Bergoglio was in charge of a Jesuit congregation in 1976 when two priests from the group where abducted by agents of the dictatorship, according to journalist Horacio Verbistky. It was later discovered that the priests, Francisco Jalics and Orlando Yorio, had been tortured.   

While being questioned by investigators in November 2010, Bergoglio testified that as the priests' superior he had alerted them that they were in danger of falling victim to what he called the "military paranoia" if they continued working in a particular slum. After their abductions, he met with dictator Jorge Videla and with military commanders to advocate for the priests' freedom, he told investigators.  

The priests survived, but critics say Bergoglio should have publicly defended them and criticized the regime. 

Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel wrote in an op-ed published Friday in El Clarin newspaper: "I do not believe Jorge Bergoglio was an accomplice of the dictatorship, but he lacked courage to accompany our fight for human rights during the most difficult times." 

‘How far could he have gone to protect people?
Many well-known Argentinians have come out to defend Bergoglio. Human rights advocate Graciela Fernandez Meijide, who describes herself as an atheist, said speculating about Bergoglio playing a role in the abuses is unfair. 

"How far could he have gone to protect people?" she asked journalists, describing how her own son was abducted from her house during the dictatorship and she was unable to save him. She said human rights investigators never found proof that Bergoglio was involved.

She added that she believes Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner is fomenting the criticism of Bergoglio.

Relations between the president and the former cardinal could be described as tense. During sermons he often accused the administration of not helping the poor enough and of distorting inflation numbers. But relations became more heated when the cardinal led the fight against the president's attempts to legalize gay marriage in 2010. Bergoglio described it as the devil's work.

He lost, and gay marriage is now legal in Argentina.  

However, the president did wish Bergoglio well upon finding out he would be the new pope. 

‘A treasure’
Back at Bergoglio’s old church, parishioners were happy to swap stories about their old priest who last visited on Dec. 8, when he administered the sacrament of confirmation to dozens of neighbors.  

Raul Valdivieso came to show friends a photo of himself and his wife with Bergoglio. He said the priest baptized most of his family members. "We even ate 'choripan' together,” said Valdivieso, referring to the traditional Argentinian meal of sausage on Italian bread. He also liked drinking "mate," a traditional tea made with herbs, others said.

"The church today needs a pope with that kind of humility,” said Father Berretta, the parish leader. He added that he is very proud that the church has a Hispanic pope.  "For us he is a treasure."  

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The Mercedes popemobile. The 10-room penthouse apartment. The Swiss Guards.

The worldly trappings of the papacy will be a big adjustment for a former prince of the church who tried to live like a pauper.

Before he was Pope Francis, Argentinian archbishop Jorge Bergoglio was known for shunning the perks of the job -- the palace, the chauffeur, the red vestments -- for a simpler life befitting a Jesuit priest.

Now that he's leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, the man who took a vow of poverty at age 22 will have to get off the bus and get used to having a butler.

Or maybe it's the Vatican that's in for a change. Within minutes of being named pontiff, the new boss was already putting a stamp of simplicity on papal life.

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He did not sit on the papal throne to receive the cardinals, he didn't don a red cloak over his white cassock, and he declined to take an official car back to the hotel, opting to take the bus with the rest of the group, a Vatican spokesman said Thursday.

In Buenos Aires, Bergoglio walked to his office and often used buses -- likened by one travel writer to "old men in a bar – loud, smoky, rough around the edges" -- to get around town.

He's unlikely to have that lack of luxury as pope, if only for security reasons. His main ride will be the white armored Mercedes SUV with an elevated glass enclosure, known to the world as the popemobile. The interior is white leather with gold trim.

For longer jaunts across Italy he has the option of a helicopter, staffed by pilots from the Italian Air Force. Commercial jets are chartered for flights around the world, and the pope sits up front.

His new digs will be first-class, too.

As a cardinal, Bergoglio was entitled to live in an opulent mansion but chose to bed down in a spartan downtown apartment, keeping warm with a stove when the building turned off the heat on weekends, according to The Associated Press.

Soon he'll move to a sprawling wrap-around suite on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace that 200 workers spent three months renovating in 2005.

There's a private chapel, a medical office, a library large enough to hold Pope Benedict XVI's 20,000 books, a state-of-the-art German kitchen with onyx counters, and the office from which he blesses the crowd in St. Peter's on Sundays.

A lavish home fit for a pope
The floors are 16th century inlaid marble polished to a gleam. The loggia that leads to the apartment is covered in historic frescoes. There's access to a rooftop garden, and the attic has small apartments for guests and staff.

The household retinue includes a butler, a couple of secretaries, and women from a lay association known as Memores Domini who cook and clean. 

That will seem like a crowd to Pope Francis, who lived alone in Argentina and spent every morning sitting next to his landline phone, personally taking calls from parish priests and recording their complaints and requests in a small notebook, a former aide told NBC Latino.

Bergoglio also cooked for himself, and his favorite meal might horrify the average Italian: skinless chicken and salad. He does enjoy a glass of wine -- or a shot of espresso while in Rome -- but usually settles down with a spot of Argentinian tea called mate.

At the Vatican, typical meals might include pasta with salmon and zucchini or rigatoni with prosciutto, prepared on a marble table with vegetables imported from the papal vacation home, Castel Gandolfo. Rich desserts like strudel or tiramisu were on the menu under Benedict's watch.

If he packs on a few pounds, no worries: A major wardrobe change is also in the offing.

While some cardinals seem to love cloaking themselves in the crimson robes that advertise their rarefied status, Bergoglio covered up with a black overcoat. The Argentinian newspaper La Nacion reported that he didn't order new clothes when he was elevated; he had the previous cardinal's hand-me-downs tailored to fit him.

After Pope Francis was elected on Wednesday evening, the papal tailor Gammarelli's would have offered him a burgundy mozzetta, a short cape either in red velvet trimmed in white fur or in silk brocade to wear over his cassock. He demurred, and no one will be shocked if he decides against the red leather slippers that became Benedict's trademark.

Even though he was his country's top church official, Bergoglio rarely interacted with the press, preferring to make his points from the pulpit. Soon he'll have reporters from around the world scrutinizing his every word and gesture.

Father Jorge, as he was called at home, will be known as His Holiness. But those close to him expect the railway worker's son will cling to some of the pared-down aspects of his former existence.

"This routine is his life's backbone," Father Guillermo Marcó, who worked for him for eight years, told NBC Latino. "And he will try to keep it in place as much as possible."

Related:

The pope's to-do list: 7 challenges facing Francis

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UNITED NATIONS - Rwanda - along with Australia, Argentina, Luxembourg and South Korea - won a seat on the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, despite accusations by a U.N. panel that Rwanda's defense minister commands a rebellion in Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Rwanda was unopposed in its bid for the African seat on the council that South Africa will vacate at the end of December, but still needed approval from two-thirds of the U.N. General Assembly members present to secure the two-year term. It won 148 votes in the 193-nation assembly.

Argentina also was elected to the council unopposed, winning 182 votes. Australia won a seat with 140 votes, Luxembourg with 131 votes and South Korea with 149.

Cambodia, Bhutan and Finland failed to secure two-year seats on the council.

There are five veto-holding permanent members of the council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - and 10 temporary members without veto power. Thursday's election was for the term from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2014.

Rwanda's government said that it would work with all members of the council to ensure "it is responsive and reflective of the views & aspirations of the developing world."

"Rwanda's troubling and tragic past allows it to bring to the UNSC a unique perspective on matters of war and peace," it posted on a Twitter account created for its Security Council term (@RwandaUNSC).

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Before the vote, the Congolese delegation told the General Assembly it objected to Rwanda joining the Security Council, accusing its neighbor of harboring "war criminals operating in the eastern part of the DRC and who are being sought by international justice." 

A confidential U.N. report, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, cast a shadow over Rwanda's election to the 15-member U.N. power center - which has the ability to impose sanctions and authorize military interventions.

Support for rebels
The Security Council's "Group of Experts" said that Rwanda and Uganda - despite their strong denials - continued to support M23 rebels in their six-month fight against Congolese government troops in the east of the country. 

Rwandan President Paul Kagame posted a declaration on Twitter welcoming the result: "No matter what haters say ... justice&truth will prevail!!! Sometimes it just requires a bit of good fight for all that...!!!" 

Speaking to reporters in New York, Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo complained about the timing of the leak of the experts report to Reuters two days ahead of the Security Council vote, but added that the leak was "predictable."

She also sought to assure Congo that Rwanda would be a responsible council member. "I believe the Democratic Republic of Congo should see Rwanda on the Security Council as value addition," she said after the vote.

Philippe Bolopion of the advocacy group Human Rights Watch criticized the inclusion of Rwanda on the Security Council

"After blatantly violating the Security Council's arms embargo and undermining the work of the U.N. by propping up the abusive M23 rebels, Rwanda is rewarded with a seat at the table," he said.

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"Kigali is now in a position to try to shield its own officials implicated in abuses from U.N. sanctions, which is a flagrant conflict of interest," Bolopion said in a statement. "Other Security Council members now have an even greater responsibility to hold Rwanda to account." 

Britain's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Philip Parham put a more positive spin on Rwanda's election, saying: "We look forward to working with them on issues of international peace and security including the efforts to try to end the cycle of violence in the eastern DRC."

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr described Australia's election as a "big juicy, decisive win" that endorsed the country as a good global citizen.

Heavy rains exacerbate Congo crisis

"For us as a middle power a long way from the centers of clout in the world, the centers of power in the world, this is a lovely moment," Carr told reporters after the vote.

South Africa, Colombia, Germany, India and Portugal are leaving the Security Council in December. Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Pakistan, Togo and Morocco will remain until the end of 2013.

The last time Rwanda was on the council was in 1994-95. That coincided with a genocide in which 800,000 people were killed when Rwanda's Hutu-led government and ethnic militias went on a 100-day killing spree, massacring Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The Congolese government on Wednesday demanded targeted sanctions against Rwandan and Ugandan officials named in the U.N. experts report.

According to the U.N. experts, who monitor compliance with sanctions and an arms embargo on the Congo, Rwandan Defense Minister General James Kabarebe was ultimately commanding the rebellion and both Rwanda and Uganda were providing weapons, troops and military and political aid to the insurgency.

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Three key figures from Argentina's "Dirty War" got hefty jail terms for the systematic theft of babies from political prisoners during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, an Argentine court ruled on Thursday.

The missing children -- stolen from their parents and illegally adopted, often by military families --  are one of the most painful legacies of the crackdown on leftist dissent in which rights groups say up to 30,000 people were killed.

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Just over 100 of the children have discovered their true identities, but many families are still searching more than three decades later. Activists say there could be several hundred more individuals who do not know they were taken as babies from their parents.

"This is what we were seeking. We never wanted revenge, we were never hateful, we didn't ask for anything more than justice and justice has been done," an elderly man who identified himself as Francisco Madariaga's grandfather told local television. 

More photos: Tears flow as 'stolen babies' trial comes to an end

The sentences in the case known as "The Systematic Plan" investigated the theft and illegal adoption of 34 of the stolen infants. 

The 11 defendants included former junta leaders Jorge Rafael Videla, 86, and Reynaldo Bignone, 84, and ex-navy officer Jorge Acosta, 71, -- known as The Tiger. They are already serving life sentences for previous human rights convictions. 

Argentine dictators go on trial for baby thefts

Videla was sentenced to 50 years in prison as the architect of the plan, while Acosta got 30 years and Bignone got 15. The other defendants were also ordered to serve sentences of various lengths. 

Videla, who is unrepentant about rights abuses committed by the state, described himself as a "political prisoner" during the trial and said any abductions that did take place were not part of a systematic plan. 

"The women giving birth, who I respect as mothers, were militants who were active in the machine of terror," the former dictator said in his closing remarks. "Many used their unborn children as human shields." 

The baby thefts set Argentina's 1976-1983 regime apart from all the other juntas that ruled in Latin America at the time. Videla other military and police officials were determined to remove any trace of the armed leftist guerrilla movement they said threatened the country's future.

"This is an historic day. Today legal justice has been made real — never again the justice of one's own hands, which the repressors were known for," prominent rights activist Tati Almeida said outside the courthouse, where a jubilant crowd watched on a big screen and cheered each sentence.

500 babies stolen?
Witnesses included former U.S. diplomat Elliot Abrams. He was called to testify after a long-classified memo describing his secret meeting with Argentina's ambassador was made public at the request of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a human rights group whose evidence-gathering efforts were key to the trial. 

Abrams testified from Washington that he secretly urged Bignone to reveal the stolen babies' identities as a way to smooth Argentina's return to democracy. 

"We knew that it wasn't just one or two children," Abrams testified, suggesting that there must have been some sort of directive from a high level official — "a plan, because there were many people who were being murdered or jailed." 

No reconciliation effort was made. Instead, Bignone ordered the military to destroy evidence of "dirty war" activities, and the junta denied any knowledge of baby thefts, let alone responsibility for the disappearances of political prisoners. 

The U.S. government also revealed little of what it knew as the junta's death squads were eliminating opponents. 

The Grandmothers group has since used DNA evidence to help 106 people who were stolen from prisoners as babies recover their true identities, and 26 of these cases were part of this trial. Many were raised by military officials or their allies, who falsified their birth names, trying to remove any hint of their leftist origins. 

UK slams Argentina 'harassment' over Falklands

The rights group estimates as many as 500 babies could have been stolen in all, but the destruction of documents and passage of time make it impossible to know for sure. 

The trial featured gut-wrenching testimony from grandmothers and other relatives who searched inconsolably for their missing relatives, and from people who learned as young adults that they were raised by the very people involved in the disappearance of their birth parents. 

Six others were convicted and sentenced by the three-judge panel on Thursday: former Adm. Antonio Vanek, 40 years; former Gen. Santiago Omar Riveros, 20; former navy prefect Juan Antonio Azic, 14; and Dr. Jorge Magnacco, who witnesses said handled some of the births, 10. 

Former Capt. Victor Gallo and his ex-wife Susana Colombo, were sentenced to 15 and five years in jail, respectively. Their adopted son, Francisco Madariaga, testified against them and said he hoped their sentences would set an example. 

Retired Adm. Ruben Omar Franco and a former intelligence agent, Eduardo Ruffo, were absolved. 

According to Argentine judicial procedure, the basis for the convictions and sentences won't be revealed until Sept. 17, said the president of the judicial tribunal, Maria del Carmen Roqueta. 

Reuters and The Associate Press contributed to this report. 

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Britain’s Falkland Islands are to hold a referendum on their "political status" - hoping to bring an end to the continuing dispute with Argentina over the islands' sovereignty, their government said Tuesday.

Britain and Argentina in 1982 went to war over the South Atlantic islands, and 30 years later tensions have escalated between the two nations.

Cristina Fernandez, Argentina's president, has asserted her country's claims to the islands - known in Spanish as Las Malvinas – and has asked for negotiations with Britain to end their “colonial” control from London.

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The referendum is expected to take place in the first half of 2013. 

Read more on this story at ITV News

Gavin Short, chairman of the Legislative Assembly for the Falkland Islands, said he hoped a referendum would indicate islanders are "certain" about their future.

Mr Short said: “I have no doubt that the people of the Falklands wish for the islands to remain a self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom.

“We certainly have no desire to be ruled by the government in Buenos Aires, a fact that is immediately obvious to anyone who has visited the islands and heard our views.”

Will Prince William's tour of duty reignite simmering Falklands dispute?

Britain’s Foreign Office Minister, Jeremy Browne, who is visiting the islands, said: “Only the Falkland Islands people can determine how they wish to be governed, so I very much support this initiative by the Falkland Islands government. Indeed, I believe this referendum is a truly significant moment.”

The islands are 7,780 miles from the UK and 1,140 miles from Buenos Aires. They have been under British control since 1833 apart from during the brief conflict.

The Falkland Islands conflict lasted 74 days in 1982.

ITV News is the UK partner of NBC News.

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