The auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, questioned this Sunday, January 15, “the aggressiveness of the violent that only shows their fear and weakness”, during the mass officiated from the Santa Agatha church, in Miami, Florida, a meeting point for the Nicaraguan community in the United States.
Báez contrasted the position of the violent with the image of Jesus, who he remembers was peaceful as a lamb, when analyzing the New Testament book of John, which tells the story of John the Baptist, a starting point for talking about the leadership figure and the importance of solidarity with the people.
“Authentic leaders do not place themselves above the people, nor are they distant from the people. They do not live sitting at desks or selling their image in the media, nor do they side with privileged groups because they have more money or are more influential, ”explained the bishop in his homily.
The Carmelite religious celebrated 38 years of his priestly ordination in exilewhere he has been since 2019 on the advice of Pope Francis after threats from Sandinista fanatics.
Monsignor Silvio Báez, in his address, insisted: “True leaders line up and share the fate of the people. There is no leadership without solidarity. We need leaders who don’t look out for their own interests, who love the people and who don’t bow down to money or fame.”
Báez’s message comes when the Catholic Church in Nicaragua is under persecution with 8 imprisoned priests, including the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, under house arrest. The regime accuses him of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity” and “propagation of false news”
As Catholic hierarchs, Báez and Álvarez have stood out for their pastoral work, their defense of human rights, which implies demanding that the powerful respect human dignity. At different times they have raised their voices for injustices, denouncing the brutal repression of the State of Nicaragua against peaceful protesters in 2018.
The regime accused, from then on, in a hate speech of “coup plotters” the priests. Ortega has described the Catholic Church as a “perfect dictatorship” and on September 29, 2022, accused the priests, without mentioning their names, of having called for bloodshed during the crisis, while praising the repressive leadership. from the police. He did not show any evidence in the accusations of him as has happened on other occasions.
Also: Daniel Ortega praised his repressive leadership, while attacking the Catholic Church
According to journalistic records, what happened was that the religious denounced the state oppression and received the victims of the State in the temples, which caused the wrath of the presidential couple.
Monsignor Silvio Báez recalled in his sermon, after speaking of the Baptist, what sin means. “It is not so much disobedience to a religious law or simply an offense against God (…) Sin is a break with love. We commit sin when we close ourselves off from God’s love and truth. We commit sin when we seek our own happiness at the expense of others, forgetting, despising, using, or making our brothers suffer,” he added.
