Following the latest round of arrests of Catholic leaders in Nicaragua and the continued imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has said the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega has gone “off the rails.”
The U.S. Department of State has demanded the release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa and other imprisoned Nicaraguan religious leaders following a wave of detentions targeting Catholic clergy over the Christmas season.
Nicaragua has expelled a dozen priests held as political prisoners as the increasingly tyrannical regime continues sending clergy into exile and cracking down on the Catholic Church.
The Vatican has confirmed that it has been asked and has agreed to receive 12 priests who had been detained in Nicaragua.
Eight priests have been transferred to a prison notorious for torture and deplorable conditions as the Nicaraguan regime again ramps up its repression of the Catholic Church.
A Nicaraguan priest has been reported kidnapped from his parish residence as the country’s increasingly totalitarian regime continues cracking down on the Catholic Church and silencing all dissenting voices.
A week after Nicaragua’s government confiscated a prestigious Jesuit-run university, it has officially expelled the Society of Jesus from the country entirely and ruled that all of the order’s property and assets be seized.
The Nicaraguan regime has extinguished the Jesuits’ legal status and ordered the expropriation of its assets, effectively making it illegal for the Society of Jesus to operate in the Central American country.
Imprisoned Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez appeared unexpectedly on Nicaraguan television March 24, more than six weeks after refusing to be exiled from his country, opting instead to face his sentence of 26 years behind bars.
