On All Saints’ Day, the former Trappist priest and Colombian Catholic missionary, brother Pablo María Diez, asked Jesus to intercede for the release of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez Lagos, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Siuna.
Bishop Álvarez has been in police custody since August 4, 89 days ago. Until the early morning of August 19, he remained captive in the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa, that day he was taken out with violence along with a group of religious. Later, he was transferred to his family’s house in Managua. Since that date there is no information about the hierarch.
«Today All Saints’ Day, with the power of God I ask you to intercede for Monsignor Rolando (Álvarez), from Nicaragua, that nobody knows where he is, but your Sacred Heart of Jesus you know where he is and you are going to intercede before the Father Eternal and the Holy Spirit so that various parts of the Catholic Church move to investigate so that we know where Monsignor is, “said the religious in a video posted on his social networks.
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«I raise my prayer to heaven, I join all the Saints in heaven and say: Holy Father, good Father, that all these voices, so that they console Monsignor at this moment, so that he gives Monsignor Rolando (Álvarez) all the strength of the Holy Spirit, so that the Lord blesses him, so that the Lord restores, regenerates and renews him and I ask those who have power to please remove him from where he is, “he added.
On August 19, after the assault on the Episcopal Palace in Matagalpa, Brother Pablo María called on “all the Catholic faithful in the world” to join in prayer for the persecution of the Church in Nicaragua.
“Let us ask the Holy Father to raise his hand, there is pain, there is persecution. My heart is filled with pain and sadness. They are tears that come out of my soul, they are things that touch me. Lord, Christ Jesus, Catholics, Christians all over the world, let us pray for our Church, let us pray,” the missionary said at the time.
Monsignor Rolando Álvarez is the only one of 12 imprisoned religious who remains in his home under police custody, but with the same restrictions and surveillance at all times. In addition, an accusation against the cardinal has not been officially presented either. The other eleven religious were accused, among other crimes, of conspiring to undermine national integrity.
