In the homily of this fourth Easter Sunday, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, exhorted the people of Nicaragua not to have a “look of hatred” against their neighbor and called for forgiveness, “as Christ has forgiven.”
“Today the Holy Father tells us that how beautiful it is that we can have the look of Jesus and we can have towards the other person a look of love, a look of mercy and not a look of hatred,” said the prelate.
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Alluding to the biblical story of the persecution suffered by the apostles Peter and Barnabas for preaching the word of God and relating it to the recent actions of the Daniel Ortega regime, which wants to prosecute and imprison priests, the cardinal said that “there are people with false testimonies as they used it with Jesus.
«There are people who continue with grotesque words, they attack those who today could be Paul and Barnabas, but the Church is not led by us men, the Church is led by the Holy Spirit and the Church will always go forward, in the midst of slander, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of mistreatment, because God promised that he would be with us until the end of the world”, he affirmed.
In reference to the peace promulgated by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, the hierarch stressed that one cannot be an agent of peace “if there is no peace in my heart, because lies will be beautiful actions but actions will be other things because those actions come from the heart.” that come true through our lips and through our hands».
On May 4, an initiative was approved indicating that the “victims of the coup” demand “justice for the religious and directors of human rights organizations” in Nicaragua. Therefore, they request a “thorough investigation” so that they are tried for “treason against the fatherland.”
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In addition, they insist on investigating the religious communities or associations that were “involved in the coup adventure” of 2018. In the document they propose to open a process against the Colegio San José de Jinotepe for supporting the Nicaraguans who were protesting against the Ortega administration.
On the other hand, the religious questioned the fact that a human being looks at his neighbor with hatred, “perhaps because he has a sick heart, only from a sick heart can so many negative things come out.”
“We must pray so that the Lord heals our hearts, converts our hearts and that we can have that experience of the attitude of Jesus, a manifestation of the Father’s love,” he emphasized.
Referring to priestly work, Brenes urged bishops and priests not to “be judges.” “The pope tells us that at the moment of confession we are not judges, but ministers of compassion, ministers of mercy, that the confessional is not a place of torture but a place in which people receive the grace of forgiveness, love and mercy. The sacrament of reconciliation, the great sacrament of love and mercy from God.
In 2018, the Nicaraguan Catholic Church served as a mediator in the attempted national dialogue between the Ortega regime and the Nicaraguan opposition, however the Ortega regime has distanced itself and has attacked religious leaders, for being on the side of the victims of the repression.
