Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, commemorated this Sunday, September 4, 29 years since the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary of Managua was built, the most desecrated by the Daniel Ortega regime.
“We are present today in our mother temple, celebrating this Eucharist in thanksgiving for the 29th anniversary of having been dedicated, consecrated and blessed,” said the prelate.
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He recalled that after the 1972 earthquake, the first cathedral destroyed, there was no “mother temple.” «His eminence, Cardinal Miguel Obando did not have a permanent seat to manifest his magisterium such as the Cathedral Church, but he, in his simplicity and humility, took the church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, to take it as the temporary cathedral of him; there he spent 17 years manifesting his teaching and accompanying this devotion that had been entrusted to him », the archbishop pointed out.
He related that in 1990 they began to look for land to build the new cathedral. «Several places were sought, but in 1990, with the change of government, this land was offered and Cardinal Obando accepted it; Starting in 1991, studies and construction work began to consecrate this cathedral, which practically on September 3, 1993, concluded this beautiful work and today, 29 years later, we thank the Lord for having our archdiocese our mother temple».
«The cathedral, house of prayer and supplication, of worship and adoration; of grace and sanctification. The cathedral is the place where the Catholic people come to meet the true and living God and also to experience the visible image of the living fear that each one of us is”, he added.
He emphasized that the cathedral was built to “offer spiritual sacrifices (…) Let us all remember that we are temples and tabernacles of the Holy Spirit and based on this building, the cornerstone, chosen and precious, whose name is Jesus Christ and that nothing nor will anyone be able to destroy it as is its promise.”
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He stressed that the cathedral is the “mother church” of the 118 parishes of the archdiocese. “Here you breathe the love of God, forgiveness, fraternity and awareness of being a synodal Church and that walks together with its faithful…”.
As for the chapel of the Blood of Christ, set on fire on August 31, 2020, and which was described by the Church as a “terrorist act,” Brenes said that many parishioners come to visit “and prostrate before the venerated image of the Blood of Christ and participate in other activities».
The priest concluded by affirming that the cathedral is a place where forgiveness, reconciliation, fraternity, good coexistence and evangelize from within this archiepiscopal see».
Managua Cathedral, vandalized and desecrated
In the history of the new Managua cathedral, it has been the object of desecration by the Ortega dictatorship; the most recent were on November 18, 2019, when Ortega mobs took over the temple where there were mothers of political prisoners who were going on a hunger strike. Supporters of the regime beat nuns and priests.
Then, on March 3, 2020, during the funeral mass of the poet Ernesto Cardenal, supporters of the Sandinista Front went to the temple with red and black flags and shouted against those present. Later, they attacked and robbed opponents, journalists and those who guarded the poet’s coffin.
on July 31, a subject —according to witnesses— threw a bottle in the chapel of the Blood of Christ in the cathedraland caused a fire that reduced the revered image of the Catholic people to ashes.
On that occasion, the deputy dictator of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, ruled that it was the product of “the heat and a candle that was inside”, a version that was seconded by the Police, although Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes pointed to the action as an act “planned terrorist”
The Managua Cathedral is one of the temples most besieged by the paramilitaries and the Ortega Police. Regime officials remain stationed for more than 12 hours outside the religious building.
