Since 2018, the regime of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, his wife Rosario Murillo and their supporters have attacked the Catholic Church and its members more than 740 times, according to estimates by local lawyer and researcher (currently in the US) Martha Patricia Molina.
She said authorities in Managua have expelled 176 Catholic clergy from the Central American country over the past five years, from December 20 to the end of last year. 15 clergy and 2 seminarians were arrested there. One of them is the Bishop of Siuna, Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega.
They were all imprisoned, mainly for their prayers for the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando José Álvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison in February 2023. The regime banned such prayers for this hierarch, who was convicted of alleged betrayal of the homeland, planning a conspiracy, spreading false information and obstruction of justice.
Meanwhile, as Nicaragua prison authorities revealed on January 3, Bishop Álvarez is feeling well and under constant medical care. They also presented photos of the medical tests he had undergone in recent days.
Persecution of the Church
The church has been subject to various forms of repression since 2018, when social protests against Ortega’s dictatorial rule broke out in Nicaragua. In the years that followed, he began to liquidate church organizations: from welfare organizations to schools and media.
In a video message broadcast on December 30 last year, Auxiliary Bishop of Managua José Báez, who had to leave the country in 2019 due to threats against him, stated that in Nicaragua there is “unrelenting and constant hatred of the Church” from the regime. “The tyrants realize that the Nicaraguan people love their Church and its pastors, and therefore they reject the existence of a people aware of and mobilized by the Christian faith, because it is a critical and free people, the subject of its own history.” The bishop also called on the Catholic Church around the world to “fix our eyes on Nicaragua. Do not leave us alone, pray for our oppressed nation and raise a prophetic voice in favor of this persecuted Church.”
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
