Nicaraguan authorities said Sunday they had released 19 priests who had been jailed and handed them over to the Vatican, the latest development in the autocratic government’s long persecution of the Roman Catholic Church.
Among those freed was Msgr. Rolando Álvarez, one of the most prominent critics of the government remaining in Nicaragua, who was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 26 years in prison last February. Another bishop, Isidoro Mora, 15 priests and two seminarians were also freed.
Silvio Báez, a Nicaraguan bishop in exile in the United States, celebrated the news during a Sunday mass in Miami, saying that “the criminal Sandinista dictatorship” of President Daniel Ortega “has not been able to overcome the power of God.”
The release came after Pope Francis, in his New Year’s speech, called attention to the attacks on the church, telling the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to “follow with concern what is happening in Nicaragua, where bishops and priests are been deprived of their freedom.”
In a statement, the Nicaraguan government expressed gratitude to Pope Francis “for the very respectful and discreet coordination carried out” to send the 19 priests to the Vatican.
In recent years, Ortega has jailed or forced into exile nearly all opposition leaders and dissidents who posed a credible challenge to his rule. The campaign ultimately turned against the Roman Catholic Church, whose leaders had continued to denounce government abuses.
Martha Patricia Molina, a researcher who has tracked attacks on priests in Nicaragua, said she has documented at least 782 acts of aggression against the Catholic Church since 2018, including priests tied up and physically attacked by paramilitaries.
News from the Vatican reported above Gen. 1 that at least 14 priests, two seminarians and a bishop had recently been arrested in Nicaragua. Many of the recent detentions occurred after priests publicly prayed for Bishop Álvarez, Ms. Molina said.
In October, the Nicaraguan government sent 12 clerics recently released from prison to the Vatican.
Ms. Molina said it was good news that the priests had been freed, noting that torture had been documented in Nicaragua’s prisons. But she condemned the government for forcing religious leaders to leave their country.
“There are many older priests in this group and exile is a very painful thing that they will have to face,” Ms. Molina said.
Bishop Álvarez, arrested in August 2022, rose to prominence as a staunch critic of Ortega in 2018, when the government’s crackdown on nationwide demonstrations led to the deaths of more than 300 people. From the pulpit of Matagalpa Cathedral he called for the release of political prisoners and justice for the families of protesters who died at the hands of the police.
Alfonso Flores Bermudez AND Francesca Robles contributed to the reporting.
