Lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina calls for the removal of Nicaragua’s bishop for his safety.

Newsroom (22/10/2023 09:00, Gaudium Press) After the forced exile of 12 priests imprisoned by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, there is now worrying news of a possible attempt on the life of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, who is still in prison.

The rumours have been gathered by Martha Patricia Molina, the renowned lawyer and researcher dedicated to investigating attacks on the Church in the Central American country.

“I ask Pope Francis to remove Mgr. Rolando Álvarez from the country as soon as possible and to order his exile, because the dictatorship is planning to cause him greater harm,” said Molina.

“There are people who work for the dictatorship, revealing that there are plans by the regime to cause greater harm to the bishop, and they have asked us to raise our voices internationally; logically the Institute of Legal Medicine will say that it was a natural death,” she said.

In fact, any attempt by the Ortega dictatorship to regain some international prestige comes up against the figure of the imprisoned bishop, who has repeatedly refused to go into exile because he wants to remain with his people.

Researcher Molina was concerned that Bishop Alvarez did not appear among the priests sent to the Vatican, as this meant that he was firm in his resolve not to be exiled, putting his life in greater danger. For this reason, she asked for the Pope’s direct intervention to order Bishop Alvarez to leave the country, and for the international community to protect his life.

Molina also predicts that the persecution of the Church in the country will continue.

In fact, as Mgr. Silvio Báez, exiled in Florida, pointed out, the regime’s authorities “would like to see the Church closed down“, knowing that they can’t make it disappear, as it remains the faith of the majority of the people.

“The powers of the world fear the prophets. They would like to see the Church closed. That is why they imprison and banish the prophets,” wrote Mgr. Báez on his Twitter account.

For his part, Fr. Edwing Roman, also a Nicaraguan exiled to the US because of the dictatorship, said that they want to “implant the ‘peace’ of the gag” in the Church.

But “those who think that the prophetic voice of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua will be silenced are mistaken: this voice will continue to proclaim the Kingdom of God and denounce the oppressors, even if we are banished or exiled”.

Compiled by Sandra Chisholm