Pope's family emigrated to flee Mussolini, reveals sister

The sister of Pope Francis has disclosed that their family fled Italy and emigrated to Argentina in the 1920s to escape the Fascist regime of Mussolini.

Maria Elena Bergoglio hit back at allegations that her brother may have colluded with the military junta in Argentina, saying that their family's escape from Italy had instilled in him a revulsion for military dictatorships.

Their parents, Mario, a railway worker, and Regina, emigrated from Piedmont in north-western Italy after Mussolini came to power in 1922.

"I remember my father often saying that the advent of the Fascist regime was the reason why he made up his mind to leave the country," Bergoglio, 65, the only surviving sibling of the Pope, told La Stampa newspaper.

Bergoglio who lives in the run-down industrial Buenos Aires district of Ituzaingo, said allegations that her brother had turned a blind eye to the brutal rule of Argentina's military junta in the 1970s and early 1980s were false.

She asked, "Does it really seem credible to you? It would have meant betraying all the lessons that our father taught us with the difficult decision he made [to emigrate]."

There have been accusations that, as a senior Jesuit in Argentina, Francis was complicit in the kidnapping and torture of two priests during the country's "Dirty War".

The Vatican has said that the allegations are baseless and defamatory.