After his homily this Sunday, February 12, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, called on the parishioners to pray for Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, sentenced by the court of Daniel Ortega to 26 years in prison for alleged conspiracy against the country, contempt of authority, as well as loss of nationality.
«Someone told me, what can we do for Monsignor Rolando —Álvarez—? —I told them to— pray, that is our strength so that the Lord gives him strength, gives him discernment in all his actions that he can do» , the hierarch expressed concisely.
Related news: Pope Francis shows his pain for Monsignor Álvarez’s imprisonment and urges Ortega to open up to dialogue
Without alluding to the sentence, described as arbitrary against the bishop of Matagalpa, Brenes asked the Nicaraguan people to “continue praying for everyone, so that the Lord enlightens us and above all that there is no hatred or resentment in our hearts, that is not part of us Christians”
“The Christian is a man out of the ordinary because he has to love and forgive intensely,” stressed the highest authority of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua.
“The Church must not lose hope”
On the other hand, Cardinal Brenes affirmed that “as a Church, we have to be the Church of Hope, we cannot fall into despair and create more tensions.”
“Many may worry and be sowing discord and enmities, but the Church must be sowing the seeds of hope and forgiveness, and forgiveness is the greatest thing we can have,” the prelate stressed.
In addition, and without referring to the arbitrary actions of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, the archbishop stressed that “If the laws have been distorted, if today we have situations that are totally different from God’s thought, the Lord calls us to forgiveness, and how beautiful is forgiveness».
«How beautiful that commandment of the Lord; I come not to destroy the law, but to give it the true fulfillment and the true fulfillment of a law, it is the commandment of love, that is the magna carta of the Church, which perhaps many times will not be understood and it hurts a lot », he concluded.
Related news: Monsignor Báez on sentencing Álvarez: “They have not condemned him, they have condemned themselves”
Brenes’s words come in a context where the Catholic Church is undergoing “voracious” persecution by the Ortega regime, keeping three priests behind bars, including Monsignor Álvarez, and banishing more than 10 religious.
For his part, Pope Francis expressed this Sunday his support for the Bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Álvarez, who was sentenced on February 11 to 26 years in prison for the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“I cannot help but remember with concern the Bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, whom I love very much, sentenced to 26 years in prison,” said the Pontiff, in his first words after holding an express summary trial ordered by Ortega due to the bishop’s refusal to be deported along with 222 other people detained for political reasons, who were exiled by the regime to the United States.
