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Managua (AFP) – The Nicaraguan Cardinal and Archbishop of Managua, Leopoldo Brenes, affirmed on Saturday that the Church hopes to find a way out of the situation of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, held for nine days in his curia by the police, accused of trying to “destabilize” the country.
“All our churches are praying, accompanying him (Álvarez) and we ask the Virgin that we soon find the channels to solve (the problem) and that we can continue working to evangelize,” Brenes told AFP, after presiding over a mass in honor to the Virgin of Fátima, in the Cathedral of Managua.
However, he admitted that he “does not” immediately see a solution to the crisis that Álvarez, from the Diocese of Matagalpa, in northern Nicaragua, is experiencing.
“The whole church is praying for the Lord to enlighten us, so that we always seek the channels of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness,” said Brenes, also vice president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN).
Álvarez, a strong critic of the government of Daniel Ortega and a member of the CEN, has not been able to leave the curia since last August 4, where he remains with 10 other people, as it is surrounded by a wide police cordon.
The bishop was besieged after denouncing the authorities’ decision to close five Catholic stations and demand that the government respect religious “freedom.”
The police said they are investigating Álvarez for trying to “organize violent groups” and incite “hate” with the “purpose of destabilizing the Nicaraguan state.”
The investigations against the religious take place amid the tense relations that the Catholic Church has had with the Ortega government since the opposition protests of 2018, when several temples opened their doors to shelter the injured protesters and those fleeing from the repression.
Ortega, who has governed since 2007, considers that these demonstrations were part of a failed coup plotted by the opposition, with the support of Washington and the complicity of the bishops.
>>> Read also: The Nicaraguan Catholic Church, in the sights of the Ortega government
“Sad repression”
This Saturday, Cardinal Brenes led a procession in the grounds of the Managua Cathedral in honor of the Virgin of Fatima, after which he advocated in a mass for “forgiveness” and coexistence “between brothers”
“Maria, as a mother, teaches us to forgive and not to return blow for blow, not to return offense for offense, but always to show love (…) to break down the walls and so that we can all truly be brothers,” exhorted Brenes.
Hundreds of Catholics bid farewell to the image of Fatima, a replica that arrived from Portugal 31 months ago and this month concludes its journey through Nicaragua.
The police closely watched the cathedral during the mass, after prohibiting a pilgrimage with the Virgin through the streets of the capital on Friday.
Despite “the difficulties that our people have had to be present at the farewell ceremony for our most holy virgin, some of us Nicaraguans are here,” said José Dolores Blandino, a parishioner.
“Many more people could have come if we did not have this sad repression,” said Tania Sequeira, also attending the celebration.
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