Nicaragua has released a bishop jailed for 26 years after he stood up to the regime of President Daniel Ortega.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa was sent into exile at the Vatican along with Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega of Siuna and 15 priests and two seminarians.
The ejection of Bishop Álvarez comes almost a year after he was jailed in February 2023 with a life sentence of 26 years for refusing to board a plane with 222 other political prisoners by the hard-Left regime.
All 19 flew into Rome on the afternoon of 14 January, with the exception of one who remained in Venezuela. They are now guests of the Holy See.
In October 2023, the Vatican received 12 other priests who were being sent into exile under the persecution of the Catholic Church by President Ortega and Rosario Murillo, his vice president and wife.
Bishop Álvarez, 57, was first detained in August 2022 while Bishop Mora, 63, was arrested shortly before Christmas and a day after he requested prayers for the jailed bishop.
His intervention came amid grave concerns over the failing health of Bishop Álvarez. Two seminarians were detained with him.
Two senior priests arrested between Christmas and New Year after they prayed publicly for Bishop Álvarez were also among those expelled by Ortega.
Mgr Carlos Aviles is a vicar general of the Archdiocese of Managua and Fr Hector Treminio is the archdiocesan treasurer.
They were among 11 priests from the same diocese to be expelled, who also included Fr Ismael Reineiro Serrano Gudiel, the diocesan exorcist.
Mgr Óscar Escoto Salgado, vicar general of the Diocese of Matagalpa, was also on the plane, along with Fr. Jader Danilo Guido Acosta, the parochial vicar of the San Pedro Apóstol Cathedral of Matagalpa.
The Catholic Church has been a <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/bianca-jagger-denounces-ortegas-brutal-war-against-catholic-church-in-nicaragua/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">consistent target</mark></a> of hard-Left President Ortega because of its sympathy for the mass protests against his administration in April 2018, which he has described as an attempted coup.
The President accused the Church of supporting the protests and <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/deteriorating-situation-nicaraguan-dictatorships-persecution-of-catholic-church/">waged a campaign</a> </mark>against the clergy along with political dissidents and opponents and the free press.
It was reported last year that since 2018 the Nicaraguan regime has launched more than 500 attacks against the Catholic Church, with more than 100 priests expelled.
Among the property and assets seized by the government was the Jesuit-run Central American University, which was taken over by the state in August on the grounds that it was functioning as a “centre of terrorism”.
A statement from the regime said that the clerics were released following the diplomatic efforts of the Holy See.
“The Presidency of the Republic, the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity and the People of Nicaragua, deeply thank the Holy Father, Pope Francis; and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See; to its [prefect], His Most Reverend Eminence, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, and his work team, for the very respectful and discreet coordination carried out to make possible the trip to the Vatican of two bishops, fifteen priests and two seminarians,” the statement said.
In addition to Catholic clergy, the Nicaraguan government has also targeted Catholic orders and institutions, and other entities, so far outlawing or shutting down more than 3,000 civic groups and NGOs, notes <em><a href="https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2024/01/bishop-who-spent-over-a-year-in-a-nicaraguan-jail-released-with-18-others"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Crux</mark></a></em>. Last year, two orders of nuns, including Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, were expelled from the country along with Pope Francis’s Jesuit order.
At the Angelus at the beginning of 2024, Pope Francis spoke of the situation of bishops and priests “deprived of their freedom” in the Central American country.
He assured those who are oppressed of his “closeness in prayer” and invited the faithful to pray for Nicaragua, expressing his hopes “that the path of dialogue will always be sought to overcome difficulties”.
<em>Photo: Parishioners attend a mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, 12 February 2023. Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes presided over the Mass and asked for prayers for Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison after refusing to go to the United States with released opponents who were expelled from the country. (Photo by OSWALDO RIVAS / AFP) (Photo by OSWALDO RIVAS/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
