The Nicaraguan government has banned all religious processions before and during Holy Week this year, they confirmed to the voice of america several parish priests on condition of anonymity.
This Friday, February 24, the first Via Crucis of Lent will take to the streets before Holy Week, but the activity will be indoors inside the churches for the parishioners.
“The suspension of the Via Crucis will be one of the worst mistakes of psychopaths,” he told the VOA a priest in reference to President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, who are waging a frontal war against the Catholic Church.
According to the priest, the National Police, led by Francisco Díaz, Ortega’s in-law, verbally notified him of the ban without giving further explanations.
The police authorities have not issued an official statement in this regard either, however, this pattern has been repeated since the beginning of the year, when various Church activities were suspended, such as a procession that is traditionally held on January 1 in Nicaragua.
“The prohibitions on popular piety activities that take place during Lent is yet another attack on the Nicaraguan Catholic Church and on the religious freedom of all citizens,” he commented to the VOAAna Patricia Molina, researcher at the Pro Transparency Observatory.
In Molina’s opinion, Ortega has the “heartless and illogical” intention of eliminating the Catholic faith from the country, since “it is the only credible, respected and loved institution that, in the light of the gospel, is announcing and denouncing all the arbitrariness and evil that commit the dictatorship”.
“This prohibition is undoubtedly painful for all the Catholic people who have celebrated Lent for centuries,” Molina said.
On Tuesday, Ortega appeared at a national event and lashed out at the Catholic Church, the Pope, and the Vatican, whom he accused of being “a mafia.”
“They are a mafia, look at the crimes they have committed, how many crimes they have committed and crimes continue to come out every day,” he questioned in his speech. “Who chooses the Pope? How many votes does the Pope get among what is the Christian people? If we are going to talk about democracy, the people should first elect the priests of the people”.
The Catholic Church is experiencing one of its most difficult moments in Nicaragua, after the protests that arose against Ortega in 2018.
The president has accused the priests of being “coup plotters” for harboring the protesters of that time in the temples.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez, one of the most critical religious of his administration and who has denounced the human rights violations that are taking place in the Central American country, was recently sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Pope Francis, as well as various governments such as the United States, Colombia and the European Union have demanded the freedom of the religious.
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