In August of last year, a letter was addressed to Pope Francis by civil society organizations and exiles. They already feared for the fate of Bishop Álvarez.
Newsroom (16/02/2023 11:55, Gaudium Press) In August of last year, when the ordeal of Bishop Rolando Álvarez began, which today reaches its apex, a group of civil society organizations and exiles from Nicaragua wrote a Letter to Pope Francis.
Given how topical it is today due to the dismal prison conditions of the Bishop of Matagalpa, we have highlighted some parts.
The senders defined themselves as a group of “Nicaraguan citizens forced to live in exile” who were crying out to Pope Francis for his help.
They did so as “victims of the official violence of a state under the control and domination of Daniel Ortega, his wife Rosario Murillo and their blind followers. They were doing so out of their “desperation,” on their behalf, but also “on behalf of tens of thousands of Nicaraguans who – within the territory of Nicaragua, live under permanent anxiety and threats for fear of reprisals – will not be able to put their signatures on this document.”
“We are moved and outraged by the images we saw on the feast day of St. John Mary Vianney, in which Bishop Rolando José Álvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, appears surrounded by National Police officers, kneeling with the Blessed Sacrament in his hands after having been prevented from entering the temple to celebrate religious services that day. The police had notified that they were investigating Bishop Álvarez and had placed him under house arrest. We are afraid of what might happen to him,” they stated.
After mentioning the humiliations suffered by Father Uriel Vallejos, also from the diocese of Matagalpa, the attacks by Sandinista forces on “radio stations operated by the Catholic Church”, the cancellation of “1. Among them are several religious organizations that give encouragement to the poorest people”, among them the “Missionaries of Charity”, and the persecution of Bishop Silvio Báez and Father Erwin Román who are in exile in Florida.
“The Church, its temples and sacred images have suffered terrorist attacks that have not been investigated or clarified by the authorities. The most terrible of all, the firebombing that destroyed the venerated image of the Blood of Christ in the Managua Cathedral in the recent past.
“Since April 2018, more than 380 Nicaraguans have lost their lives murdered by paramilitaries, victims of State repression, as attested by international human rights organizations. Currently, more than 180 brothers and sisters are political prisoners, unjustly imprisoned by the Ortega-Murillo regime, just for being opponents and wanting to freely express their thoughts,” they declared.
Fear for the fate of the Bishop of Matagalpa
“We fear for the life of Bishop Álvarez” and other political prisoners,” they warned.
“The regime’s persecution and hatred against the Catholic Church has no justification. Its pastors have only fulfilled the commandment to love and comfort the weakest and most oppressed. Its bishops are accused of being accomplices in an attempted coup, when in reality what they have done is to seek a peaceful and democratic solution to the deep crisis plaguing the country.”
“Our pastors cannot be accused of having promoted a coup. The Church in Nicaragua is being persecuted and martyred by a regime that calls itself Christian and Catholic, that manipulates the external manifestations of Marian religiosity and devotion for political ends and with this offends the Catholic faith.
They concluded by crying out, as nationals of “a small and impoverished country” but who “only want to live in peace and have freedom”: “Your Holiness Francis, for all that we have said and for all the pain experienced in Nicaragua, we beg you, we implore you, “Do not leave us alone.” Do not leave us alone now. Hear our word.”
The letter was signed by 59 Nicaraguan organizations, in addition to other “civil society and territorial organizations that, because they are inside Nicaragua and exposed to state terrorism, have signed anonymously.”
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
