Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Tuesday criticized the Catholic Church, saying a “mafia” inside the Vatican decides the election of the pope and senior religious leaders.
“The people should elect the cardinals and there should be a vote among the Catholic people (…), so that the pope is also elected by a direct vote of the people, so that the people decide and not the mafia that is organized there in the Vatican”, Mr. Ortega said at an event in Managua, Nicaragua’s capital.
This diatribe by the Nicaraguan president comes more than a week after a statement by Pope Francis, who said he was “concerned” and “sad” about the situation in Nicaragua, particularly following Bishop Rolando Álvarez’s 26-year prison sentence and the expulsion of 222 opponents of the United States.
The high priest said he was “deeply saddened by the news from Nicaragua.”
On February 9, Mr. Ortega’s government released 222 political prisoners, deported them to the United States and stripped them of their Nicaraguan citizenship.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez, imprisoned since August 2022, refused to be extradited and was sentenced the next day to 26 years in prison on charges including “conspiracy and spreading false news”.
“I don’t believe in popes or kings. Who elects the Pope? How many votes does the Pope get from the Christian people?” Mr. Ortega said.
Nicaragua has tightened its laws to crack down on opposition after protests erupted in 2018 demanding the ouster of Mr Ortega, who has been in power since 2007. He was re-elected to a fourth consecutive term in November 2021 following the outcome of a ballot that left his rivals absent, arrested or forced into exile.