The Catholic Church is increasingly being targeted by the Sandinista government Nicaragua. The soothing words spoken by Pope Francis on the return flight from Kazakhstan. “At the moment there is a dialogue,” the Argentine Pope replied to a question about the situation in Nicaragua. This week, however, came the fiery words of President Daniel Ortega to strike the hand extended by the Holy See.
The former guerrilla, who was re-elected for the fourth time in 2021 after internationally disputed elections, has since the beginning of the year targeted the church, which, with its bishops and religious, is in action denouncing human rights abuses and the repression of civil society. Ortega said during a live broadcast that the Catholic Church “use the bishops here in Nicaragua for a coup d’etat”, asking rhetorically: “Since when do priests have the authority to speak about democracy?”.
The leader of the Sandinistas, flanked by his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo who nodded conspicuously, defined himself as a Catholic who “does not feel represented” by the Pope because bishops and priests “talk about democracy but don’t practice democracy”. “If they want to be democratic – continued Ortega – they should start being elected”, adding that if the Pope were elected by the Catholic voting “would be a revolution” while now the Church would be a “perfect dictatorship”.
Inciting tones that accompany what has been happening in the country since the beginning of 2022: the Catholic Church, the last independent reality in Nicaragua, has been suffering for months from the repression of the authoritarian regime with the arrests of dozens religious and the closure of radios Catholic. In the diocese of Matagalpa, for example, the bishop Rolando Alvarez she is under house arrest and the nuns who prayed the rosary in the cathedral for her release have been expelled from the country.
Regarding the expulsion of religious, the Pope himself said in the press conference on his return from Kazakhstan that he “expects at least the return of the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. These women are good revolutionaries, but of the Gospel!” They are not at war with anyone. In fact, we all need these women.” And instead, Francis’ conciliatory tones did nothing to stop Ortega’s repressive policies, which in his outrageous anti-clericalism even spoke of “a church that has been corrupted, that denigrates Christ, that has defiled Christ “, and went so far as to argue that religious in the world “have committed thousands of crimes in the world”.
In the last few months in Nicaragua the number of Priests ended up in prison for common crimes, sometimes the subject of the charges then withdrawn and without the opportunity to see family members. The climate of fear is such that José Canales, Bishop of the Diocese of Danlí in Honduras, has announced that around fifty Nicaraguan priests have taken refuge in Honduras and Costa Rica, fearing the actions of the Managua government.
L’front attack of Ortega is undoubtedly a slap in the face of the conciliatory attitude that Francis has decided to take in the face of the escalation that is underway in the Central American country, as indicated by the response given by Rome Reports journalist Maria Angeles Conde Mir to the Escape was given to Kazakhstan. Managua, on the other hand, has recently entered the sphere of interest of one of the world’s protagonists to which the current pontificate is paying close attention: China. In fact, Ortega severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan, praising Beijing for the “leading role it is playing today in building the new multipolar world order.” Little curiosity: the residence of the former Taiwanese embassy in Managua should have gone to the local Catholic archdiocese after the donation from Taipei, but as international media explain, Ortega has decided to confiscate it and transfer ownership to the People’s Republic of China.