The police of the regime have prohibited the traditional field mass that every March 22 the Catholic Church celebrates in the open air near the Tepeyac sanctuary to commemorate the day that the Father Odorico D’Andreathe Italian priest who spent 37 years in Nicaragua, most of the time in San Rafael del Norte in Jinotega.
The religious authorities of that Diocese reported that the mass on March 22 will be inside the sanctuary and on Sunday, March 26, there will be a Eucharist in the San Rafael del Norte Parish, which will be presided over by Monsignor Carlos Enrique Herrerabishop of Jinotega and president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua.
The 22nd of this month marks the 33rd anniversary of the death of the renowned friar. He is considered a saint by thousands of Catholics, the Catholic Church elevated him to “Servant of God” and he is in the process of beatification. His remains rest in the sanctuary of Tepeyac, in San Rafael del Norte.
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Every March 22, thousands of Catholics from all over Nicaragua and Central American countries arrive in San Rafael del Norte to venerate Father Odorico D’Andrea. Such is the number of pilgrims that the Church built the famous Temple, a place located in the countryside where the field mass is celebrated with thousands of devotees and where thousands of Catholic followers of the friar historically met until this year, that the dictatorship forbade.
Direct order from Ortega and Murillo
Although the Church circulated a bulletin informing that the Eucharist on March 22 is moved to the Tepeyac sanctuary and that on Sunday the 26th there will be a mass in honor of the friar, they do not mention the causes of the changes, nor do they disclose that the Police was responsible for the restriction.
The parishioners have not contained their criticism and on their social networks they denounce the abuse. “It was the Sandinista police, they are behind this coup against our faith,” they wrote. Others have revealed that the police themselves have told them that it is not the fault of the local chiefs, that the order comes from Managua.
“There are officers who do not agree with this, but they say that they must comply with the superior orders that come from Managua, and who gives them? Well, Don Daniel and his wife, who say they are Catholics, but attack the faith, are all but Catholics, “they criticized.
A parishioner consulted on the issue of the ban said that what was announced “was crazy”. “Where are you going to reach so many people? If they come here from all over the country, in the Tepeyac (sanctuary where the remains of Father Odorico rest) on Sundays, the poor people stay outside, they are not enough, “he said.
Meeting with the Bishop of Jinotega
A parishioner confirmed that the sanctioned Sandinista mayor of Jinotega, Leónidas Centeno, and Commissioner Marvin Castro, head of the Ortega Police, in addition to other well-known loyalists of the regime, arrived at the Episcopal Curia to speak with Monsignor Carlos Enrique Herrera.
Precise details of the visit are unknown, but the source points out that it was at that meeting that he was notified of the ban on Father Odorico D’andrea’s open-air mass. “Are they afraid of the people? They know there’s more people who despise them and this only makes it worse, they have earned more contempt with this persecution of the faith and our church,” said the informant.
On February 14 of this year, the dictatorship confirmed the expulsion of Fray Damián Muratori, who was the vice postulator for the beatification cause of Father Odorico D’Andrea. The dictatorship argued that the religious was requested by the Italian authorities to face a case of alleged sexual crime.
A few days before the expulsion, Muratori prayed for Monsignor Rolando Álvarez kidnapped by the dictatorship and sentenced to 26 years in prison and exalted his sacrifice of remaining in a regime prison as a public complaint that the entire country is kidnapped by the dictatorship. .
Before Muratori’s departure from the country, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Jinotega, Father Eliar Pineda, responded in a Facebook post that the cause for beatification of Father Odorico D’Andrea is ongoing and that it is in the hands of Rome.
The Catholic Church lives a brutal persecution by the Ortega regimethe last blow was the cancellation of the legal status of the Jinotega Caritas Association, in addition to the cancellation of the San Juan Pablo II University based in Managua and Matagalpa.
By United Voices
