Pope Francis was concerned about the arrest of a bishop in Nicaragua

Pope Francis delivered on Sunday your concern about the situation in Nicaragua, where police arrested several Catholic priests, including a bishop, who were critical of President Daniel Ortega’s government.

Manufacturing a call for an “open and honest dialogue”‘, the pontiff made his first public comment on Friday’s raid on the residence of the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez. The arrest of him and an unspecified number of priests took place amid the worsening of tensions between the Church and a government increasingly intolerant of dissent.

Francis told thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his regular Sunday lunchtime comments he was following closely, “With concern and pain” the events in Nicaragua involving “people and institutions”‘. He didn’t specifically mention the arrests.

“I would like to express my conviction and my hope that through an open and sincere dialogue the foundations for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can be found,” said the pope from the Europa Press news agency.

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Before the raid on Friday morning, the Nicaraguan authorities they accused the bishop of inciting hatred and violence.

The National Police confirmed the arrests and said that the operation was carried out so that the citizens and families of Matagalpa regain normalcy. He did not mention specific allegations.

“For several days we waited patiently, prudence and a sense of responsibility a positive communication from the Bishopric of Matagalpa, which never took place, ” the national police said in a statement on Friday. “As the destabilizing and provocative activities persisted, the aforementioned Public Order operation was necessary”, he added.

Álvarez was under house arrest in Managua and was allowed to meet relatives and Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, according to the police statement, which does not mention the detained priests.

Alvarez has been a key religious voice in discussions on Nicaragua’s future since 2018, when a wave of protests against the Ortega government led to widespread repression of opponents.

Last year, the Ortega government arrested dozens of opposition leaders, including seven potential presidential candidates. They were sentenced to prison this year in quick trials closed to the public.

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Ortega argued that pro-democracy protests took place with foreign support and with the support of the Catholic Church.

During the social protests of 2018, violently repressed by the police, the Sandinista government accused the Church of encouraging “a failed coup” to destabilize the regime. Ortega even claimed that the bishops they are “terrorists” and “devils in cassocks”.

In March, Nicaragua expelled the papal nuncio, who is the top Vatican diplomat in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan government it also closed eight radio stations in the province of Matagalpa, seven of them from the Catholic Church.

Government spokesmen accuse Álvarez of “doing politics” in his sermons. The same is said of the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Báez, who in 2019 was transferred to the Vatican by order of Pope Francis, after going against him.

The social uprising of 2018 resulted in 355 deaths, over 2,000 injured and 100,000 exiles, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The opposition claims that more than 190 opponents have remained in prison since then, dozens of whom were arrested in 2021.

Source: AP and ANSA

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