The Nicaraguan Cardinal, Leopoldo Brenesleader of the local Episcopate and to whom the vice president of the country, Rosario Murillowarned that he would not give “neither forgiveness nor forgetfulness” after accusing him of “blessing” the anti-government demonstrations of 2018, advocated this Sunday for forgiveness and warned of the “fragility” of the “kingdoms of this world”.
“The kingdoms of this world are fragile, they do not have a strong base, although many times they give the impression of having them, but they do not (…). Christ comes to establish a kingdom that has a strong base (…), an important and key element of this kingdom of God (…) is forgiveness”, said Brenes, during the Mass of the Palms, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua.
In the previous days, Murillo had accused the religious of “blessing” the 2018 demonstrations against the government of her husband, the president Daniel Ortegawhich were reduced with armed attacks that, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), left at least 355 dead, of which the president acknowledged 200.
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“For those who dared to bless the crimes, there can be no forgiveness, and there can be no forgetting (…), neither forgiveness nor forgetting for the criminals, neither forgiveness nor forgetting for the terrorists, for the bloodthirsty, for the promoters of horror, of anxiety (…), for those who lie and deceive, false, also as prophets and shepherds. Neither forgiveness nor forgetfulness for those who blasphemed and pronounced the name of God in vain,” said Rosario Murillo, without Cardinal Brenes or Catholic leaders having spoken so far.
The cardinal stated that “forgiveness is divine,” and referred to the hearts of people who do not forgive.
“It is a heart that is truly enraged, that is in darkness, and can make it public and shout it: I do not forgive, I do not have the capacity to forgive, we will never forgive.”, affirmed Brenes, to later quote the biblical phrase: “Forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing”.
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The cardinal also celebrated that believers, “during this season of Lent we have been able to go to our confessors, and how beautiful that we have been able to receive, do not outrage, no signsif we have not received the ‘I absolve you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’, this is the characteristic of the kingdom, it is the characteristic of Jesus Christ”.
He also took the opportunity to recommend to his faithful to ask God for the ability to forgive.
“How can I not ask the Lord that I may have the ability to forgive? May He grant me the grace to be able to untie those hatreds, that confrontation, those feelings, to be able to be servants of Jesus”, he highlighted.
Relations between the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan Catholic Church have been marked by friction and mistrust in the last 43 years.
Ortega, whose Government expelled the nuncio from Nicaragua Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertagas confirmed by the Vatican last March, has branded as “terrorists” the Nicaraguan bishops who acted as mediators of a national dialogue that sought a peaceful solution to the crisis that the country has been experiencing since 2018.
The Sandinista leader has described them as “coup plotters” and accused them of being accomplices of internal forces and international groups that, in his opinion, are acting in Nicaragua to overthrow him.
