Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes affirmed this Monday, October 31, at the Vatican that dialogue must continue with the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua, despite the fact that it maintains an escalation of repression against the Catholic Church and has imprisoned a bishop, eight priests and two seminarians.
We must always continue the dialogue. The dialogue begins but we don’t know when it ends, we have to keep going, always promote it. The pope always gives us this indication: the dialogue cannot end,” he said. Cardinal Brenes after participating in the presentation of a document of the Episcopal Council of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM).
Brenes was also received this Monday, October 31, by Pope Francis, for which he explained that the Supreme Pontiff “knows the situation well and is always informed” and that he told him to “go ahead with the preaching and with the accompaniment of our people, above all to be with our humble and sensitive people and close to the priests”.
The cardinal expressed his concern about “the problem of emigration.” “It is a great concern for us and also for the Holy Father. Emigration is a great pain because the family is abandoned, there are serious risks of going, for example, to the United States, passing through Honduras, Guatemala… It is really difficult”.
He is not afraid, says Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes
Despite having suffered attacks in the past, Brenes assured that he is not afraid to return to Nicaragua. “I’m not afraid. I go through the parishes, I drive a car, if I stop at a traffic light I talk to whoever I meet, ”he added.
He admitted that he feels concern, but added: “I have to be the first to show hope and trust in God.”
On March 6, the Ortega regime expelled the apostolic nuncio from the country Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, also expelled from the national territory 18 Missionaries of Charitycongregation founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and continued with the house arrest of the bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Alvarez.
Likewise, the justice of the regime will sit on the bench of the accused, on December 1, four Catholic priests, two seminarians and a cameraman from the Diocese of Matagalpa, to answer for the alleged crimes of conspiracy to undermine the integrity and propagation of false news to the detriment of the Nicaraguan State and society.
The Ortega regime has also closed down a dozen radio and television channels that belonged to the Catholic Church, and in less than four years the Nicaraguan Catholic Church has been the target of 190 attacks.
unanswered dialogue
On September 15, Pope Francis revealed that “There is dialogue with Nicaragua” and that the Vatican has spoken with the Ortega government about the escalation of repression suffered by the Church and the human rights crisis in this country. The regime, however, has not spoken publicly on the issue and has continued to attack religious leaders.
“In Nicaragua the news is clear, there is dialogue, there has been talks with the government. There is dialogue, but this does not mean that everything the government does is approved or disapproved, ”said the pontiff during a press conference aboard the papal plane on his return to Rome after his trip to Kazakhstan.
The pope assured that “there are problems and they must be resolved” and he hoped that the Missionaries of Charity could return to the country.
“There are things that are not understood, that are not assimilated, but dialogue must never be stopped,” the pope added, after describing the expulsion from Nicaragua of Nuncio Sommertag, who is “a good man who has now been named in another country.
