Priests from the Diocese of Matagalpa forced into exile concelebrated a mass in San José, Costa Rica, on the occasion of the traditional Nicaraguan Shouting, this December 7, asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary for peace and justice in Nicaragua.
During the celebration, in the Santa Ana Parish of the canton of Santa Ana, in the Costa Rican capital, the exiled priests also prayed for the Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, who has been at home in jail since April 4. just last August, as well as for the jailed priests, for all the political prisoners, for the exiled priests and for all of Nicaragua.
“I wanted to come to accompany this people of the Nicaraguan diaspora on this day, especially in this Marian time, which identifies us with this love for the Mother, to give them a word of hope, to always accompany them,” said Father Uriel Antonio Vallejos, parish priest of Jesus of Divine Mercy Parish in Sébaco, Matagalpa, who went into exile last August and was in Europe, where he will return in the coming days.
In the intentions of the mass, Father Vallejos pointed out that Monsignor Álvarez was completing 28 years of priestly life, but “the dictatorship has him in jail at home”, and pointed out that “we pray for him, so that he feels the dew of the Mother, may he have the spiritual strength so that one day he can leave and his prophetic voice will always resound in the homeland.”
“We are also going to pray for the brother priests who are in jail, we ask for them who are sick, we also pray for all the political prisoners, for our families, for all of Nicaragua, for the priests also in exile, we pray for freedom and we ask the Lord for the conversion of those who dominate Nicaragua, because they are not rulers,” added Father Vallejos.
In the homily of the mass, Father Mangel Hernández, parish priest of the San Juan María Vianney Parish in Matagalpa and exiled since the end of August, explained to the faithful that the Virgin Mary is considered by the Church as the first saint among all saints. , finding in her many attitudes to imitate.
At the end of the mass, Father Vallejos encouraged the faithful to maintain hope, indicating that one day not too far away Nicaragua will emerge “from the quagmire” in which it finds itself. He also referred to the political class, indicating that there are “bad subjects”, even groups that only think about their interests and not those of the nation.
While, in an interview after the mass, Father Vallejos assured that Nicaragua lacks leaders and “today that I am in the diaspora I see that there is a lot of division, as we say as a good Nicaraguan, everyone wants to bite the bone, and they do not they organize, they do not have that organizational capacity because they see their interests, they do not see the interest in loving the homeland…”.
Father Vallejos also referred to the results of a recent survey in which they indicate that supposedly the Catholic Church has lost parishioners in Nicaragua, indicating that “today the Nicaraguan church has grown more than ever, due to the prophetic accompaniment, the accompaniment, By being with the people, it is when we see the most that the temples are exceeded ”.
Original text published by CSI Mosaic
