The parishioners of Estelí carried out their Stations of the Cross inside their temples, due to the prohibition of the Daniel Ortega regime to punish the Catholic Church by prohibiting processions in the streets. “This persecution kills a tradition, but increases faith, we pray for our country with more force,” said a hermit from an Estelian community at the end of penance on Friday.
The Latin expression “viacrucis” means “way of the cross” and refers to the journey that Jesus made from where he was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, to the place where he was crucified.
Related news: Ortega locks the Stations of the Cross in the churches, they will not even tour the surroundings of the temple
But this year in Nicaragua, Catholics cannot perform the Stations of the Cross in the traditional way, because the Ortega y Murillo regime has prohibited it, so in most parishes they began to do it inside the churches.
Hermitages, most affected
With this measure, those who have suffered the most are the hermitages of rural communities in this department. The problem with these small temples is that some occupy very small spaces and most do not have perimeter walls. How to make 14 stations in such reduced terrain?
In this regard, in the El Cebollal community, in the Miraflor sub-area, in the municipality of Estelí, one of the local Catholic parishioners explained that “since Stations of the Cross are prohibited, and we don’t have space, we are only praying inside the temple. This is also being done in other communities,” she said.
«Here in Miraflor there are 12 Catholic hermitages, the one in El Cebollal is called María Auxiliadora, another that is nearby is called Santa Rosa de Lima, it is in El Coyolito. We have to pray the Stations of the Cross inside the temple, there is no other way, but we do it with a lot of faith and a lot of love, “adds the Catholic believer.
A resident of the Los Hatillos community, in Pueblo Nuevo, Estelí, confirms that they are doing the same in his community. «In the El Calvario hermitage, in this town, we are only praying it as if it were El Rosario, sitting there. There are some who stand up when the seasons are mentioned,” he said.
“There are those who say that this way, people concentrate better on prayer, and it is true, there is no disorder, but that is not the meaning and meaning of the Stations of the Cross, it is totally different from tradition and what its name represents” , the community member complained.
“moment of reflection”
The parishioners recalled that the Stations of the Cross are moments of reflection on the “reality we live in, sin and the Catholic faith.” “That makes people include in their prayers the persecution suffered by our church, our priests and our bishops,” said another parishioner who asked to speak on condition of confidentiality.
For her part, a young Catholic from the Los Rincones community, from Pueblo Nuevo, Estelí, said that in her town, the Stations of the Cross are also taking place inside the chapel. “We’re just praying it, but with a lot of faith, a lot of fervor,” she added.
In the Nuestra Señora del Rosario cathedral, the mother temple of the Diocese of Estelí, as well as in the Cruz del Calvario parish and in the other parishes of the city, the Way of the Cross was carried out around the temple, without leaving the perimeter walls.
By United Voices
