Pope Francis expressed concern on Sunday about the situation in Nicaragua, where police have detained several Catholic clerics — including a bishop — who were critical of the government of President Daniel Ortega.
“I follow with concern and pain the situation created in Nicaragua that involves people and institutions. I would like to express my conviction and my wish that, through an open and sincere dialogue, the foundations for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can continue to be found,” the 85-year-old pope told thousands of people gathered in the Plaza of San Pedro for his usual comments on Sundays.
The declarations of the first Latin American pope on Nicaragua come only two days after the arrest of Monsignor Rolando Álvareza critical bishop of President Daniel Ortega who was forcibly removed from the Episcopal Palace to be transferred to his relatives’ house in Managua, where he is under house arrest.
Seven people who accompanied the religious in the parish house are being held in the prison known as El Chipote under investigation, according to the Nicaraguan Police.
Before the raid early Friday, Nicaraguan authorities had accused the bishop of inciting hatred and violence.
The National Police confirmed the arrests and said that the operation was carried out so that the citizens and families of Matagalpa recover normality. He did not cite specific charges.
Organizations had asked for a pronouncement from the Pope
In this context, various organizations had spoken out asking the highest hierarch of the Catholic Church to make a statement about Ortega’s persecution of the religious.
One of the latest demonstrations was signed by 26 former Latin American heads of state who pointed out that what is happening in Nicaragua “under the primitive Ortega-Murillo dictatorship” is “worrying.”
Ortega has branded Nicaraguan priests as “demons in cassocks” since 2018 who began demonstrations against him for harboring protesters fleeing “state repression,” as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called it.
In the last three months it has arrested three priests accused of different charges, but it has also canceled radio stations belonging to the Church.
According to the sociologist Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo, “the regime considers the Church a political enemy” and precisely for that reason it has begun to attack the religious, as has happened with the opponents who are detained in the El Chipote prison, in Managua.
Some analysts have expressed that the pronouncement of Pope Francis was “weak” as the “situation of the Church” in Nicaragua is “critical”, however, others consider that putting the panorama on the agenda was positive.
“I am satisfied with what the Pope said because he made the issue of Nicaragua visible and that of sincere and frank dialogue. I would believe that it is almost a protocol because Ortega has shown that he does not want to dialogue and has no incentives to do so,” he indicated. to VOA the former opposition deputy and political analyst Eliseo Núñez.
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