Monsignor Carlos Escribano, archbishop of Zaragoza, accompanied on August 27 a Eucharist celebrated in that city asking for peace in Nicaragua and the cessation of persecution of the leaders of the Catholic Church, especially by Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez and the priests who accompanied the Bishop of Matagalpa during his detention in the Episcopal Curia, whom the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have imprisoned without justifying their detention.
The Spanish leader sent his prayer to those “who are suffering persecution and to all that sister church (that of Nicaragua). We pray for them, we ask for justice to be restored. We ask for peace to return to that nation and we ask for all those who suffer.
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Monsignor Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, both in northern Nicaragua, was abducted early Friday, August 19, by police officers from the provincial episcopal palace along with four priests, two seminarians and a cameraman, after being confined for 15 days.
The police had the area fenced off, they put up fences at all the entrances and they spent the day and night armed. In the Curia, two uniformed men with AK rifles blocked the exit of the religious.
Conversion of the rulers
The prelate Escribano also prayed “for the conversion of the rulers so that they really seek the good of the citizens and see those who are treating them unfairly and can build a nation authentically in peace.”
At the same time, he entrusted the citizens to the Virgen del Pilar, the queen of Hispanidad, to “protect the peoples of our America and, especially, Nicaragua.”
The Ortega Police, led by Francisco Díaz, brother-in-law of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorial couple, accuses the high ranking official of trying to “organize violent groups,” allegedly “with the purpose of destabilizing the State of Nicaragua and attacking the constitutional authorities,” although So far they have not offered evidence.
Álvarez is the first bishop arrested since the Sandinista Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua in 2007 after coordinating a Government Junta from 1979 to 1985 and presiding over the country for the first time from 1985 to 1990.
Vigil in Saragossa
On Saturday night, August 27, the Nicaraguan community based in Zaragoza held a prayer vigil for the Catholic Church, an institution persecuted by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. On the altar, there was the blue and white flag next to the image of the Virgin.
At the mass, the organizers reproduced evangelizing messages from Monsignor Álvarez and the messages denouncing the harassment of religious leaders, which has triggered the closure of stations and channels run by the Church. Also, they presented through photographs of the leaders imprisoned by the regime.
