The anti-Catholic crusade carried out by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has gone so far as to spy on the catechism that the Church teaches to children in their initiation into the Christian life, but it has also tried to infiltrate and keeps under permanent surveillance all priestly training centers of Nicaragua.
The journalist specializing in coverage of religious issues, Israel González Espinoza, exiled in Spain, during an interview for the program En Contacto, Article 66denounced that, according to information he has received from Nicaragua, the repressive forces of the regime have intensified espionage against the Christian institution, to the point of spying on children in their catechism classes and in seminaries.
«They have come to report to me (from Nicaragua) that, even the catechism classes, that is, the Christian initiation for children, are being listened to (spy on them). It is the catechism of first communion children. “How far will the paranoia of the Ortega regime go,” González denounced.
For the Catholic analyst, the Sandinista tyranny would be intensifying espionage against all departments of the Christian institution because it is precisely “the last institution that escapes the totalitarianism of Ortega and Murillo”, that is, they cannot give orders within the Church so They keep it watched and besieged.
Dictatorship will not be able to influence the appointment of bishops
González, when analyzing the possibilities that the dictatorship will at some point be able to influence or condition bishop appointments to place priests who sympathize with Sandinism in those positions, stated that he sees it as “unlikely” since the Church has given clear signs of support for the bishops. who have been banished.
«It is unlikely (the incidence of the dictatorship to appoint bishops). First of all, because all the bishops who have gone into exile, like the case of Monsignor Silvio Báez, who is the one who has been away for almost six years, in the two meetings that (the Pope) has had, Francis has confirmed it as auxiliary bishop of Managua,” said the journalist.
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He explained that sources close to Monsignor Báez have stated that the Supreme Pontiff would have told the exiled leader that he must continue signing as “auxiliary bishop of Managua”, because he continues to be so.
The social communicator values these actions of the bishop of Rome as a sign that he is aware of the appointment and permanence of those bishops in their positions. “It is a red line in which we must not give in because these bishops were not doing anything wrong, they were accompanying the people in the midst of this repressive context that we are experiencing in Nicaragua,” he emphasizes.
They try to infiltrate the seminars
The fidelity of the Nicaraguan bishops and the support of the highest Vatican authorities would be exasperating Ortega and Murillo to the point that they desperately seek to keep all the dependencies of the Church under absolute surveillance and control.
González denounced that he has also received reports from Nicaragua that agents of the regime’s security organs have “touched” seminarians to serve as informants from within.
«People who have entered the seminars have reported to me, some boys from whom the Ortega regime tries in some way to get information, what type of training they give there, that if they talk about politics, if they talk about national reality which, on the other hand, were classes that were within the curriculum of the form,” warns the Nicaraguan Catholic.
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«Agents of the Ortega regime try to approach the seminarians, those who are still in the seminaries, to try to get some type of information from them and I know that there are seminarians who have left Nicaragua due to the issue of persecution, because they were targeted. in his neighborhoods, in his area, in his municipalities because he is a seminarian,” Gonzalez added.
The journalist indicates that, in the face of harassment and persecution by the repressive bodies of the regime, some aspiring priests have been forced to leave the country and migrate to other dioceses to complete their spiritual formation.
Persecution strengthens the Church
However, the Nicaraguan analyst, from his Catholic Christian conviction, maintains a hopeful position by remembering that the crises and persecutions that the catechism has experienced throughout the centuries have strengthened it and made it grow as a church.
«In the Catholic Church we always say that persecution is the seed of new Christians. I am sure that after this whole wave of persecution the Church will not only emerge stronger, but that many boys and girls who see this situation admire Rolando Álvarez, Silvio Báez, the priests who have given their best to protect to the people, I am sure that they are going to opt for the priesthood,” says González.
“I am sure that the persecution will purify the Church of Nicaragua and that it will emerge stronger from all this, speaking of purification in the spiritual sense,” the journalist concluded.
