Also, he has entered by force and raided a parish and expelled 16 nuns of the missionaries of the order Mother Teresa of Calcutta. So far this year, the Sandinista government has expelled the apostolic nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag from the country, imprisoned three priests, closed eight Catholic radio stations and taken from subscription television programming on three Catholic channels. Álvarez’s arrest is the latest brush in a history of friction between the Nicaraguan Catholic Church and the Sandinistas led by President Ortega. Frictions between the State and the Church “Enough of so much silence! Let those who have to speak and show their faces speak up, that is called ‘sin of omission'”, in reference to the Pope Franciscowho has been criticized by different sectors for keeping silent on the issue amid the claims of lay people from Nicaragua, a country with a Catholic majority. Edwing Romaniananother critic of Ortega, exiled in the United States. “My God! How outrageous! They have taken Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, with the priests who were with him,” the father wrote. The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) indicated in a message that “this morning the Police violently assaulted the episcopal curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa, and kidnapped Monsignor Rolando Álvarez and other priests and laity with an unknown direction“.Īt least five priests and three seminarians have been held for two weeks along with Bishop Álvarez. Those who know, tell where my brother bishop is! May his kidnappers respect his dignity and release him! Again, the dictatorship overcomes his own evil and devilish spirit again,” he wrote in a tweet.
“With an indignant and pained heart condemn the nocturnal kidnapping of Bishop Álvarez. The auxiliary bishop of Managua and exiled, Silvio Baezcondemned the arrest and asked the authorities to release and respect Álvarez’s dignity. They were also arrested Ramiro Tijerino, rector of the Juan Pablo II University and in charge of the San Juan Bautista parish as well as the seminarians Darwin Leyva y Melkin Sequeirathe cameraman Sergio Cardenas and the priest Raul Gonzalez. The hierarch, a critic of the President’s government Daniel Ortegawas arrested along with the priests Jose Luis Diaz y Sadiel Eugarriosfirst and second vicar of the Matagalpa Cathedral of San Pedro, respectively. “Worry about wearing the party dress in the Kingdom of God,” Álvarez wrote in Twittera few hours before being captured. Álvarez, 55, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, is accused by the Police of trying “organize violent groups”, allegedly “for the purpose of destabilize to the State of Nicaragua and attack the constitutional authorities“, although at the moment they have not offered evidence. “Urgent! Right now the National Police has entered the Episcopal Curia of our Diocese of Matagalpa“, reported that ecclesiastical headquarters in their social networks.
Police of Nicaragua entered this Friday by force into the Episcopal Palace of the Diocese of Matagalpa (north) and arrested Bishop Rolando Álvarez, as well as seven of his collaboratorswho were confined and held since last August 4.