On the eighth day of police captivity imposed on Monsignor Rolando Álvarez and 10 other people, including priests and laity, the cardinal called on the congregation not to be filled with hatred because this feeling destroys the person and is not at peace with himself. He also called on the population to continue sending his intentions, praying and bending their knees for the situation in Nicaragua.
The bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa is locked up in the Episcopal Curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa by order of the regime after an escalation of repression against the Nicaraguan Church that has intensified since last August 1 with the closure of at least 10 Catholic media.
“We want to tell you brothers and sisters that our hearts are full of love, that’s why we are at peace. Our hearts are full of forgiveness, of God’s mercy, that’s why I also told you that we are resting in the hands of the Lord, the best hands in which we can be”, he said in the homily from the Chapel of Misericordies in the Curia Bishop of Matagalpa.
«A person who walks a hell in the heart, an internal fury, is devoured by hatred, it is an evil fire, which destroys, which does evil. He will not be confused by the devil. The first person that hate destroys is itself, the very person who has made room for that annihilating force that is hate. Evil is overcome with the strength of good. Good is eternally powerful”, added Monsignor Rolando Álvarez.
Related news: More than 60 organizations demand that Pope Francis intercede for the freedom of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez
The bishop explained that despair is another of the temptations that Nicaragua faces, because a people without hope is a “self-buried” people that can no longer see ahead and the future. He encouraged the faithful to reject the despair of hearts and let the hope that comes from God flood lives.
Yesterday, August 10, 61 Nicaraguan opposition organizations asked Pope Francis to advocate for the personal freedom of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, who was imposed as a “de facto prison” by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in the Episcopal Curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa. Eight days have passed since the Ortega Police kept the Curia under siege, preventing Monsignor Álvarez and 10 other people from leaving.
In a letter sent to the Vaticanthe organizations explain to Pope Francis that “we desperately write in our name but, above all, we do it in the name of tens of thousands of Nicaraguans who live under constant anxiety and threats within Nicaraguan territory for fear of reprisals- they will not be able to express their signatures on this document.
They also stated that they feel “moved and outraged” by the recent events in Matagalpa, where “we saw the feast day of San Juan María Vianney in which Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez, (…) appears surrounded by police officers National kneeling with the Blessed Sacrament in custody in his hands after being prevented from entering the temple to celebrate the religious services of that day.
