Nicaraguan bishops share Church’s suffering with Pope

The statistics, released on August 27, are in a report titled Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church, compiled by exiled lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina.

The ban on processions imposed by the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, has worsened since 2022, Ms Molina said.

The number could be even greater, since the report does not cover all churches and chapels, she said.

In an interview with the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News, Ms Molina explained that so far this year, only 32 attacks by the dictatorship against the Church have been recorded, a figure that could also be much higher.

Laypeople and clergy are afraid to report such instances, out of fear of reprisals. Among various attacks on the Church by the regime are confiscation of a seminary and arbitrary closures of education institutions, media outlets and non-profit organisations.

On August 23, Pope Leo XIV met three exiled bishops from Nicaragua.

The Holy Father received Bishop Silvio Báez, whom he confirmed as auxiliary bishop of Managua; Bishop Isidoro Mora of Siuna; and Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera, bishop of Jinotega and president of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference.

Bishop Báez wrote on X on August 26: “The Holy Father, Leo XIV, received me in a private audience on Saturday, August 23, together with Bishop Herrera and Bishop Mora. We spoke at length about Nicaragua and the situation of the Church in particular. He encouraged me to continue my episcopal ministry. . .  I am sincerely grateful for his fraternal welcome and his encouraging words.”

“The Pope needs true, objective information,” Ms Molina said, “and I believe that these three bishops who attended this private audience with Pope Leo were very intent on reporting on what is being suffered in Nicaragua and also what we, the migrant community, whether Catholic or not, are going through in other countries as a result of the damage the Sandinista dictatorship is causing in the country.”

Ms Molina told EWTN News that she also keeps a separate record of “attacks that cannot be published in the media or in studies because of the fear felt by the people who leaked the information”.

FULL STORY

Nicaraguan dictatorship banned more than 16,500 religious processions, new report reveals (CNA)