Pope Francis expressed his concern this Sunday about the 26-year prison sentence imposed by the Nicaraguan justice system on Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a critic of President Daniel Ortega, and about the deportation of more than 200 political prisoners who were welcomed in the United States after being “banished” from their nationality.
“The news that comes from Nicaragua has saddened me and I cannot help but remember with concern Bishop Rolando Álvarez, sentenced to 26 years in prison, and also the people who have been deported to the United States,” said the highest authority of the Catholic Church in her Angelus prayer.
The Argentine pontiff said he was praying for them and for the people who suffer in the Central American nation, adding that he asked that the hearts “of political leaders and all citizens be opened to the sincere search for peace.”
“Let us ask the Lord through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin to open the hearts of political leaders and all citizens to the sincere search for peace, who makes truth, justice and love and is achieved through dialogue” said the Pope.
Bishop Álvarez was sentenced on Friday to 26 years in prison for the alleged crimes of conspiracy, propagation of false news, obstruction of functions, and contempt of authority, in a trial considered “null” by human rights organizations that argued that due process was not followed.
His trial took place one day after the Ortega government released 222 political prisoners who were taken in by the US government. Ortega said that Álvarez had been included in the list of people to be released, but when he refused to leave the country he was sent to prison.
Álvarez was also stripped of his Nicaraguan nationality.
Pope Francis’ statements come at one of the most difficult times the Catholic Church is experiencing in Nicaragua, according to the Observatory for Transparency and Anti-Corruption, which records attacks against the clergy.
Said observatory recorded 140 attacks against religious in 2022 and 15 criminal proceedings against priests. The Ortega government has said that the processes “are not political” and obey “common” causes.
However, the Ortega government has branded the Catholic Church as a “coup plotter” for harboring protesters in temples during anti-government protests in 2018, which left more than 300 dead, according to human rights organizations.
Ortega, who has been in power for more than 15 consecutive years, has also called priests “false prophets” for asking him to put an end to human rights violations.
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