Mgr Silvio Baez, Auxiliary bishop of Managua, described this 2022 as “a very painful year for the entire country”, which left 12 priests kidnapped and others forced into exile.
In a brief conversation with Article 66the prelate affirmed that despite the difficult circumstances faced by Nicaraguans in these 365 days, “the future must be placed in the hands of God.”
Related news: Ortega executed 140 attacks against the Catholic Church in 2022
From his exile in the United States, the hierarch affirmed that “at the beginning of the new year —2023— we must continue dreaming and fighting for a just and free society, without ever getting discouraged.”
The religious is one of the Catholic voices that has most demanded the cessation of repression in Nicaragua and the freedom of all political prisoners, as well as the demand to put an end to the attack against the Catholic Church.
After the arbitrary detention and accusation against Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop Báez has not stopped demanding his freedom and that his rights be respected.
140 attacks suffered the Catholic Church of Nicaragua in 2022
In this 2022, the Catholic Church was the victim of the biggest attacks by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, counting 140 attacksaccording to a report by lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina.
Related news: Dictatorship prohibits procession of Jesus Sacramentado in Managua
Among the most relevant hostilities, the lawyer highlighted “unfair” criminal proceedings against priests, who were not attached to what the laws of the country mandate.
For the researcher, the increase in attacks on the Nicaraguan Catholic Church is due to the fact that the religious authority “continues firm in its faith and principles, preaching the Gospel, which is in itself an announcement and denunciation of the arbitrariness of the powerful in power. The dictatorship has been incessant and does not give respite to the prelates.
At the end of October 2022, Martha Patricia Molina presented the second edition of Nicaragua: a persecuted church?, which registered 96 attacks against the Catholic Church in four years of repression and an end-of-year update reporting a total of 410 assaults.
Despite the constant attacks suffered throughout 2022, at the hands of the Nicaraguan regime, which will begin 2023 by prohibiting the procession of Jesus Sacramentado in Managua, the highest authorities of the Catholic Church in the country have remained silent.
