Pope Francis compared this Friday the government of Daniel Ortega, in Nicaragua, with the “Hitlerian dictatorship” of past centuries, during a wide interview provided to the international agency Infobae.
The prelate was asked about the exile of more than 222 political prisoners who were welcomed by Washington under a humanitarian parole, but he was also asked about Ortega’s attacks on the Catholic Church.
“With great respect, I have no choice but to think about an imbalance in the person who directs [el país]. There we have a bishop in prison, a very serious man, very capable. He wanted to give his testimony and did not accept exile, “replied the highest authority of the Catholic Church in reference to Rolando Alvarez, a senior official confined to a cell in Managua after refusing to leave the country.
In the same way, he was asked about a phrase from the president given weeks ago where he charged against the bishops, priests and popes whom he classified as “a mafia.”
In this regard, Francis said that the crisis in Nicaragua “is something that is outside of what we are experiencing, it is as if it were bringing about the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitlerian dictatorship of 1935… they are a type of rude dictatorship,” said the pontiff.
Ortega has lashed out at the Catholic Church since the 2018 protests that left more than 300 dead.
The president has branded the priests as “coup plotters” for giving refuge to the protesters at that time, and has taken retaliatory measures, expelling the Apostolic Nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag from the country.
Similarly, Ortega has jailed several priests and others have gone into exile for fear of being jailed, such as Edwin Román, who led a church in the city of Masaya, which was a stronghold during the 2018 protests.
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