According to him, during the last five years, the authorities of Managua expelled 176 Catholic priests from this Central American country, and only from December 20 to the end of last year. He was arrested there 15 clerics and 2 seminarians. One of them is the Bishop of Siuna, Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega.
They were all jailed mainly for praying to Bishop Rolando José Alvarez of Matagalpa, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison in February 2023. The regime forbade such a prayer for this hierarch, who was convicted of alleged treason, conspiracy planning, spreading false information and obstruction of justice.
Meanwhile, as the Nicaraguan prison administration announced on January 3, Bishop Alvarez is doing well and is under constant medical supervision. They also presented photos from the medical tests he underwent in the last few 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 began in Nicaragua. In the following years, he began to eliminate church organizations: from welfare organizations to schools and the media.
In a video address broadcast on December 30 last year, Auxiliary Bishop of Managua Jose Baez, who had to leave the country in 2019 due to threats against him, said that there is “relentless and constant hatred of the Church” on the part of the Nicaraguan regime. The tyrants realize that the Nicaraguan people love their church and its pastors, which is why they deny the existence of a people conscious 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 of the world: “to turn our eyes to Nicaragua. Do not leave us alone, pray for our oppressed nation and raise a prophetic voice in favor of this persecuted Church.”
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(tags translate)Nicaragua