Nicaragua’s government issued a statement attacking the Vatican as “depraved” following interviews in which exiled Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa reaffirmed the Pope’s desire for him to continue leading a pair of Nicaraguan dioceses from afar. Source: OSV News.
The February 8 statement from the foreign ministry of the regime accused the Vatican of using its “websites and platforms” to transmit statements “that constitute an insulting aggravation for the Sovereignty and Dignity of the Nicaraguan State”.
It described Bishop Álvarez’s recent comments as “irresponsible and disrespectful. They violate the supreme Laws and Norms which govern the Independent Life of our Blessed Nicaragua”.
The condemnation followed Bishop Álvarez speaking to the media for just the second time since his January 2024 banishment from Nicaragua, which followed more than 500 days of detention.
The bishop had not previously spoken specifically of his detention prior to a February 6 interview with EWTN News, but said “what sustained me was prayer”.
“Now that I am out, I have realised that it was not only my prayer but also the prayer of all the faithful and holy people of God, not only Nicaraguan, but spread throughout the world,” Bishop Álvarez said.
Bishop Álvarez became the voice of the persecuted in Nicaragua, which descended into a path toward totalitarianism after President Daniel Ortega’s regime cracked down on protesters demanding his ouster in 2018.
He also became the face of repression against the Church – an institution the regime has attempted to crush and control as it stamps out all spaces for dissent and infringes the freedom of worship and assembly.
The bishop refused to be exiled in February 2023 and was subsequently convicted on sham charges and sentenced to 26 years in prison. He was exiled with 18 other churchmen in January 2024 after a wave of arrests targeting clergy.
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Nicaragua calls Vatican ‘depraved’ for keeping Bishop Álvarez as head of two dioceses from afar (By David Agren, OSV News)
