Wernich's trial was thought to have revealed "the church's dark past during the dirty war, when it sometimes gave its support to the military's persecution of leftist opponents. That past stands in stark contrast to the role the church played during the dictatorships in Chile and Brazil, where priests and bishops publicly condemned the governments and worked to save those being persecuted from torture and death." During the trial, the Church was officially silent, although the Reverend Rubén Capitanio was called as a witness and was required to testify during the trial. He condemned the Roman Catholic Church's "complicity" in atrocities during the Dirty War. He said, "There are some that think that this trial is an attack on the church, and I want to say that this is a service to the church. This is helping us search for the truth."