Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Managua (Agenzia Fides) - Sadness for "the events that afflict the pilgrim Church in Nicaragua". This is the message that CELAM, the Episcopal Council of Latin America and the Caribbean, addressed to Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes, Archbishop of Managua and Vice-President of the CEN, that is, of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, following the arrest and expulsion of the Bishop of Jinotega and President of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez, on the evening of November 13. A few hours earlier, the Facebook page of the diocese, used mainly to broadcast live the religious celebrations presided over by the bishop, had been blocked.
In the letter from CELAM, the Latin American bishops express their "closeness and fraternity" to the Church of Nicaragua and "to all the faithful of the country." With thoughts turned to the bishop of Jinotega, CELAM raises prayers to heaven "so that this situation is resolved quickly and that he can return to his homeland."
In addition to expressing their pain, the Latin American bishops "regret the situation that several bishops and their jurisdictions are experiencing" throughout Nicaragua and therefore continue to pray "so that all the bishops and the holy people of God, with the strength of faith," continue to be "witnesses of fidelity" to Christ.
Bishop Herrera, president of the CEN since 2021, is the third bishop expelled by the government after Rolando Álvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, and Isidoro Mora, bishop of Siuna (the latter two were later welcomed in Rome in the premises of the Holy See).
According to a report published two weeks ago by the Costa Rican NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nadie Más, more than 50 religious have been expelled by the Ortega government since 2018 (which accuses the Church of supporting the 2018 protests in which more than 300 people died, ed.). In the same NGO report, at least 74 religious and priests have been detained and 35 of them have been deprived of their nationality. (Agenzia Fides, 16/11/2024)
