The Archbishop of Luxembourg released this morning a letter addressed to the Catholic Church of Nicaragua showing “solidarity” on the part of the bishops of the European Union in the face of the persecution imposed by the regime. At the same time, they demand the release of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez.
«Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich expresses the closeness and solidarity of the bishops of the European Union for the difficult moment that the local Catholic Church is going through due to the systematic persecution carried out by the public authorities. Bishop Hollerich asked the Nicaraguan national authorities to immediately release Mons. Álvarez and the other detainees, falsely accused of conspiring to threaten national integrity and spreading false news,” the statement said.
Related news: Calidh condemns the pattern of persecution against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua
They add that they are following “closely the development of the situation in Nicaragua, marked by the persecution of the Catholic Church and its faithful. As COMECE bishops – the letter says – we are committed to promoting freedom, democracy and justice in Nicaragua through our regular dialogue with the representatives of the EU institutions”.
The European bishop denounces the persecution against religious imposed by the Nicaraguan dictatorship. «In 2022, the national government expelled the apostolic nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag and 18 nuns from the Order of the Missionaries of Charity. It also imprisoned seven priests and two collaborators in the Diocese of Matagalpa, closed nine Catholic radio stations, withdrew three Catholic channels from subscription television programming, and prevented processions and pilgrimages,” the statement concluded.
Recently, the Center for Inter-American Legal Assistance in Human Rights (Calidh) joined the international denunciations against the repressive laws imposed by Ortega against religious, affirming that “they break the principle of presumption of innocence because they were specially adopted to censor, punish and take revenge on specific people, such as opposition voices regarding the Nicaraguan government.”
For Calidh, the open contempt” of the State of Nicaragua for the dignity and respect for basic human rights, “including the guarantees of due process, of each priest or layperson subjected to an arbitrary trial is worrisome.
The organization stressed that despite the arbitrariness against the Catholic Church of Nicaragua, “neither the laws, nor the sentences, nor the sentences are above the rights. The human rights of those persecuted, prosecuted and convicted are above the law and any arbitrary state action.
