Pope Francis voices concern over missing seven-year-old in Argentina

Pope Francis has voiced his fears over the fate of Loan Danilo Peña, the five-year-old boy who went missing in Corrientes Province some seven months ago and has still not been found.

The Argentine pontiff, speaking during a general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, recalled Loan’s disappearance while speaking about the injustices suffered by children across the world.

“There are hundreds of millions of minors who are forced to work, not to mention the children who are slaves of the prostitution or pornography trade, and of forced marriages,” said Francis.

“When in the street, in the parish neighbourhood, these lost lives are offered to our gaze, we often look the other way,” decried the Pope, who then departed from his prepared text.

“There is a case in my country, a boy called Loan was kidnapped and nobody knows where he is,” he noted.

Referring to the rampant speculation over Peña's unexplained disappearance, the Pope said that Loan was supposedly “taken away to extract his organs for transplants.”

“‘And this is done, it is well known. Some come back with a scar, others die. That's why today I want to remember this boy, Loan,” lamented Francis.

Loan disappeared on June 13, 2024. The youngster had travelled out to the countryside with family members before sharing a lunch at his grandmother’s home. It was his first time visiting the home.

He was last seen picking oranges with a group of children and adults on the grounds of a property near his grandmother’s home. When the time came to return, the group realised that he was missing.

A large search operation failed to turn up any sign of Loan. Investigators, who initially treated it as a missing persons case, are probing lines of investigation that indicate he may have been abducted and trafficked across the border into Paraguay.

Around two weeks after the disappearance, speculation grew that the boy had been accidentally run over. However, the child’s aunt later admitted the incident was fabricated. 

Members of Loan's family are being investigated for alleged links to his disappearance. To date, seven people have been charged and detained.

They are Bernardino Antonio Benítez, Loan’s aunt Laudelina Peña, former municipal government official María Victoria Caillava and her husband, former naval officer Carlos Guido Pérez, Daniel Oscar ‘Fierrito’ Ramírez and his partner Mónica del Carmen Millapi, as well as the ex-local police commissioner Walter Maciel.

Camila Núñez, Loan's cousin who attended the lunch before his disappearance, testified earlier this month as a witness, reportedly implicating relatives and corroborating details.

Núñez, 25, is one of the key witnesses in the case, though has been fearful about testifying. According to sources cited by the Noticias Argentinas, she has the court that she is “afraid” for her safety. 

She reportedly pointed the finger at Laudelina Peña, with her lawyer Juan Pablo Gallego describing the aunt as “the boss.”

Last November, the child’s parents – María Noguera and José Peña – sent a letter to Francis in which they said that the only thing that keeps them going is “the love for their other siblings and their immense love for God.”

– TIMES/AFP/NA