the cardinal Leopoldo Brenes Solorzano, Archbishop of Managua, urged Nicaraguans, during the Mass on Thursday, June 29, to “accept mistakes and ask for forgiveness.”
From the Metropolitan Cathedral, the hierarch pointed out that “we are called, as a Church, to announce the person of Jesus, but we have to be very clear that who Jesus is and that experience we must transmit to others.”
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Referring to the biblical passage that tells the story of Peter and Paul, the priest said that both apostles had flaws but that they knew how to accept their mistakes and follow the call of Christ.
«The persecutor of the Church —Saul— would later become persecuted, hated for announcing the person of Jesus; but also, the beauty that we find in the two men —Peter and Paul—, pillars of our Church, is that they left everything and followed Jesus”, he explained.
He also recounted that “-the apostle–Peter left the project of being a fisherman par excellence and Paul is going to stop being the persecutor of Christians and they will begin the experience of getting to know Jesus more and more.”
Alluding to the current reality that society is experiencing, Brenes Solórzano stated that “to know who Jesus Christ is, humility is needed.” He also stressed that “a person who is arrogant will not be able to apologize for his mistakes.”
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«A person who is arrogant is not going to admit that he has failed. A person who thinks he is great and powerful is not going to be able to cry (…)”, stressed the highest representative of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.
Cardinal Brenes’ preaching comes in a context in which the Nicaraguan regime, which calls itself Christian, socialist and in solidarity, has increased a wave of persecution and discredit against religious leaders, imprisoning and forcing many priests into exile.
To date, the Ortega justice system keeps at least four priests behind bars, including Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, however, according to the opinion of opponents, the religious authorities have maintained a weak and timid position against the authoritarianism of the country’s presidential couple.
