The Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Alvarezdenounced —during his homily on Good Friday— that a group of people who are regularly located around the cathedral of San Pedro, Matagalpa, “attacked” a collaborator of this temple.
“Today one of our reading ministers was attacked,” Álvarez denounced. “And I want to tell you, God knows, quite simply, if it’s me you’re looking for, let these go. Do not do with the faithful what you want to do with me. What you want to do with me, if you are going to do it, do it with me and not with the faithful, not with the holy people of God, I tell you clearly and simply, “she added.
Although the bishop did not explain what the attack consisted of, he warned the aggressors that “if they touch a member of the church they touch us all”, since, he valued, “the unity of the church is indestructible”.
“Today is the day of the unity of the church. They do not know with whom they are wanting to confront and confront. It is not against human forces. No, it is with forces of God that are supernatural. The unity of the church does not come from us who are sinners, fragile, weak, limited, the unity of the church comes from God”, expressed the Catholic hierarch.
According to Álvarez, the “attack” occurred in the portico of the Matagalpa cathedral minutes before the Good Friday celebration began.
constantly besieged
On several occasions, Monsignor Álvarez has denounced that he is the victim of siege and persecution by supporters of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. On March 27, the bishop indicated, through his social networks, that four police officers they gave him persecution while he was traveling on the Pan-American highway and then they intercepted his vehicle “in a sudden manner.”
On that occasion, the bishop explained that the officers were on a patrol from the San Benito police station, municipality of Tipitapa, who after intercepting him asked for his documents and took a series of photographs of him.
“I denounce this fact before the Nicaraguan people, as I will do any other type of action that violates my free right to mobilize,” added the bishop, one of the most critical voices of the Catholic Church against the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
attacks on the church
Ortega has described the bishops as “coup plotters” and has accused them of “being accomplices” of internal forces and international groups to overthrow him. During the last electoral campaign, the Sandinista caudillo also referred to the Catholic leaders as “terrorists.”
On March 6, the regime expelled the apostolic nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, representative of the Holy See in Nicaragua. The government of Ortega and Murillo gave the religious a little more than a week to leave the country, but after consultations with the Vatican, the monsignor abandoned his diplomatic mission in Nicaragua, without saying goodbye to the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN) or the diplomatic corps accredited in the country.
In a statement, the Vatican assured that it received “with surprise and pain the communication that the Government of Nicaragua has decided to withdraw the approval (agrement)” to the apostolic nuncio.
