In the early hours of this Monday, February 13, Fray Damián Muratori was seen leaving the El Tepeyac Franciscan Sanctuary, in San Rafael del Norte, Jinotega. He left in the parish vehicle to be on time for an appointment at 8:00 in the morning at the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (DGME) of the Ministry of the Interior in Managua.
Nothing else has been known in San Rafael del Norte about the whereabouts of the Franciscan priest, to whom on the night of Sunday, February 12, they arrived in a DGME car to deliver the appointment. “We are afraid that they are going to expel him from the country, as other people have been thrown out, even other fathers (priests),” says a parishioner.
Meanwhile, in the Sanctuary, an unidentified person only said that Fray Damian “is not here at the moment… I have guidance not to provide more information about it.”
At 5:00 pm on February 13, there was still no news from Fray Damián. “Let’s hope that Fray Odorico performs the miracle and they don’t take him out of the country,” said a Catholic who prefers to omit his name because “then they also put him in prison.”
Fray Damián Muratori prayed for Bishop Rolando Álvarez
Fray Damián, who is about to celebrate 52 years of priestly life, arrived in Nicaragua on March 14, 1976 and was a missionary in the Matagalp municipality of Matiguás. Since then, he has excelled in multiple social works, in addition to being the vice postulator for the cause of canonization of Fray Odorico D’Andrea, whom Catholics call “the saint of San Rafael.”
Hours before the DGME appointment was brought to him, Fray Damián presided over a mass at the Sanctuary -where he has been rector since 2000- and referred to the prison situation of Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Estelí.
“We are going to gather in prayer not only for ourselves, but for all Nicaraguans throughout the world, for the priests and also citizens who have forcibly left Nicaragua, and let us also pray for Monsignor Álvarez who is in jail, 26 years of age. jail, so that he can be brave and teach us to be really loyal, coherent and proud Nicaraguans to be Nicaraguans”, said Fray Damián when offering the Sunday liturgical celebration.
While, in his homily, the priest spoke energetically about free will, because God forces no one to comply with the Commandments, since “he is the God of freedom and for this reason he never violates anyone’s freedom, then each one of we are what we want to be”.
In addition, he considered the imprisonment of Monsignor Álvarez, sentenced to 26 years and 4 months in prison, as “a historical fact” and noted that the bishop “was on the list of those who had to go to the United States. Did Monsignor Álvarez leave? Why didn’t he leave? Because he didn’t want to!… In the end, 220 people caught the plane and one didn’t catch it. Was Monsignor Álvarez right? … He stayed and for me, a real man in pants… They put me in prison, put me in prison… ”.
“He knew that by not taking the plane he would have a lot of years to fall…”, said Fray Damián, noting that the Sunday Word calls for assuming the consequences of decisions.
Fray Damián had permanent residence in Nicaragua, but had to renew it annually. However, in May 2021, the DGME canceled his residence and the religious must be renewing his stay in the country every three months.
*This article was originally published on CSI Mosaic.
