The Police of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, arguing “reasons of public security” prohibited this weekend the carrying out of processions in the festivities of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Jerometwo of the saints of the city of Masaya.
According to a statement from the Archdiocese of Managua, the Police notified the brotherhoods and priests of the parishes of San Miguel Arcángel and San Jerónimo that “the processions will not be allowed in the respective festivities of that city”, which were planned for the September 19 and 30.
“We invite the devotees and promisers of the patron saints to keep in mind that faith and devotion are a treasure that we carry in our hearts and from there we can pay due homage with the strength of that ancestral heritage in our communities,” says the Archdiocese statement.
They also indicate that masses, novenas and liturgical celebrations typical of both festivities, will be held according to the program of each of the parishes in the respective temples.
The persecution of the Church
The Ortega-Murillo regime has unleashed a repressive escalation against the Catholic Church, which in 2018 promoted a failed national dialogue between the regime and representatives of civil society. Since then, The Ortega government has branded the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua as “coup plotters” and “terrorists”.
Ortega currently holds prisoner the Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, seven priests, two seminarians and a committed layman. In addition, last March he expelled the apostolic nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag from the country and months later, in July, 18 Missionaries of Charity. He also shut down a dozen Church-owned media outlets and forced several priests into exile.
The Police have also entered by force and raided a parish, preventing parishioners from receiving the Eucharist inside the temple and besieging other priests in their churches.
Likewise, last May the Archdiocese of Managua prohibited the procession with the pilgrim image of the Virgin of Fatima.
