The Vatican confirmed on Friday, August 9, that the seven priests who were victims of the anti-Christian exiles carried out this week by Nicaraguan dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are now in Rome and are doing well.
According to a note published this Friday by the Catholic weekly Alpha and Omegapublished by the San Agustín Foundation of the Archbishopric of Madrid, Spain, the Vatican officially confirmed that the priests Edgar Sacasa, Ulises Vega, Marlon Velázquez, Víctor Godoy, Harvin Torres, Jairo Pravia and Silvio Romero are in Rome, under the protection of the Holy See.
The Vatican source cited by the Spanish Catholic media indicated that Father Frutos Valle, who is the administrator “Ad Omnia” of the Diocese of Estelí and who was kidnapped by the Sandinista Police on July 26, was not among the group exiled by the Ortega-Murillos.
Related news: Bishops Rolando Álvarez and Isidoro Mora: From the prisons of the Ortega dictatorship to the pulpit in Rome
Father Frutos is 80 years old and suffers from various illnesses typical of his age. He is currently forced to remain in the Seminary of Our Lady of Fatima in Managua, under the regime of “seminary as prison.”
Chronology of the anti-Christian exiles of the Ortega-Murillos
The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has declared war on the Catholic Church and has maintained open anti-Christian persecution since April 2018, when the pastors of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN) decided to side with the people who were being cruelly repressed after taking to the streets to protest against the dictatorship.
In the midst of this anti-Christian war, the Ortega-Murillos have ordered the imprisonment and then banishment of at least 46 pastors, most of whom belong to the diocesan clergy of the Dioceses of Matagalpa and Estelí, which have been in charge of the bishop, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez Lagos, one of the priests most critical of the dictatorship and against whom the Ortega-Murillo tyrants have been extremely cruel.
In February 2023, the tyranny released eight priests from prison and exiled them to the United States, including them in the group of 222 political prisoners who were released, denationalized and exiled.
Related news: Dictatorship exiles seven Nicaraguan priests to Rome whom it kept in “seminary prison”
Then, in October of last year, another 12 Catholic religious who were also arbitrarily imprisoned, some of them accused of common crimes, were sent to Rome with the mediation of the Holy See.
Then, in January of this year, and after much national and international pressure, the dictatorship had no choice but to give in and finally released the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, who had already spent more than 500 days in prison, with a sentence of more than 26 years for fabricated crimes.
Bishop Álvarez, along with Isidoro del Carmen Mora, also a bishop from the Diocese of Siuna, 15 other priests and two seminarians were released from prison and also exiled to Rome.
The most recent report by the United Nations (UN) Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) revealed that, according to the investigations they have carried out, they can confirm that crimes against humanity against religion have been and continue to be committed in Nicaragua, and that the main perpetrators are Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
