Uruguayan: Pope Francis saved my life during dictatorship Since his election, Pope Francis has come under fire for supposedly not protecting left-wing priests from the 1976-1983 dictatorship. But one Uruguayan former left-wing dissident, Gonzalo Mosca, told AFP on Friday the then Jorge Bergoglio saved his life in 1977- by hiding him in a Buenos Aires seminary and arranging for him to escape to Brazil, from where Mosca then went into exile in Germany. At the time, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil were all under right-wing dictatorships, who collaborated to track down dissidents. Images and soundbites of interview.