Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, expressed during his homily this Friday that “we entrust the six priests and the six lay faithful who are held with us to the Blessed Virgin.” The religious refers to the confinement to which the police have subjected him and other religious, who are not allowed to move from the Episcopal Curia of that city, by order of Daniel Ortega.
The prelate reported that after more than 48 hours of siege, the road in front of the episcopal see continues to be closed and blocked by the repressive forces of the Police at the service of the Nicaraguan regime.
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«The main door and the garage are also blocked by the riot police; however, even in this situation, we maintain our joy, our strength and our inner peace,” Álvarez denounced.
Despite Ortega’s repressive wave against him, the priest affirmed that “we continue to show the world that thanks to the Holy Spirit we are men and women with the capacity for dialogue, harmony, understanding, reconciliation, friendship, fraternity, freedom , of peace”.
“We are a Church that believes in hope, in love and in the strength that God gives us; That is why we call on you — the Nicaraguan people — to keep hope alive, to remain strong in love and to live in the freedom of the children of God, knowing that the Lord will keep his word (…) The Lord will restore Nicaragua”, Monsignor emphasized.
“We think of the Nicaraguan people”
The religious leader emphasized that as priests they continue to ask the “Lord of life and history to continue giving us the grace to renounce ourselves, to take up our cross and follow him, because whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but the who loses his life for me, he will find it. Of what use is it to one to win the whole world if he loses his life and that he can give one in return to recover it?
«Dear brothers, we the 12 who are gathered in the name of the Lord in this chapel of mercy in the Eucharist and held by the police forces, we are wanting from our poor and limited forces to carry this cross, to renounce ourselves », he asserted with aplomb.
Related news: Police block the exit of Monsignor Álvarez and prevent him from officiating mass in the Cathedral of Matagalpa
Regarding the repression that Nicaragua is experiencing at the hands of the Ortega dictatorship, the bishop affirmed that during the forced confinement to which he is subjected he has thought of the Nicaraguan people.
“We think of the Nicaraguan people; we are not thinking of ourselves thank the Lord. Our gaze is not self-referential, we are not wanting to safeguard ourselves or our lives; we are in the hands of God. All 12 of us here are aware that we are only in your hands, in the hands of the Lord who is all-powerful and who is the one who always wins.
«Our prayer, our fasting is for our Church, for all the priests of Nicaragua and for our beloved country, so that the Lord helps us all to seek together nor exclusion, paths of encounter and understanding, where we can sit at the table and the main place of it is occupied by the poor, the peasants, the workers, the workers, the disposable, the dispossessed and the simple, seeing us as brothers and of the same father, “he stressed.
Álvarez concluded that they continue to pray for the Ortega Police, who forbid them to leave the Episcopal Curia. “We continue to ask the Lord to bless your lives, your marriages, your family, your jobs; may the Lord bless their food, may the Lord bless their steps, may the Lord pour out his blessing upon them.”
Despite the current attacks against Monsignor Álvarez, Pope Francis or the Vatican remain silent. So far, the dictatorship keeps two priests in prison, whom it has accused of common crimes.
