Vatican receives Bishop Rolando Alvarez and 18 other religious after exiled by Nicaraguan dictatorship

Vatican authorities received Catholic bishops in Rome Rolando Alvarez and 18 other religious after their release Nicaragua.

Alvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison for conspiracy and other crimes, is one of the most complex religious figures in the executive of Daniel Ortega and his vice president and first lady, Rosario Murillo.

A document issued Sunday by the Nicaraguan government contains the names 19 priests, including Alvarez, were released and deported from NicaraguaAnd as indicated “the trip to the Vatican of two bishops, fifteen priests and two seminarians” was completed thanks to the “very respectful and prudent coordination” by Pope Francis and the Secretariat of State.

Official news website Vatican News confirmed that the religious arrived in Rome on Sunday afternoon and were “guests of the Holy See”..

In the north of the country, the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Alvarez, was the most decisive voice of the Catholic Church that still remained in Nicaragua. was Locked up in Managua Model Prison And Convicted of “conspiracy”, spreading false news, obstruction of justice and contempt of power, he was released from prison along with 222 protesters after refusing to be extradited to the United States and deported nearly a year ago..

as part of a sentence, His Nicaraguan nationality was also revoked.

He had previously been deprived of his liberty since August 2022, when police installed a fence around his Diocese of Matagalpa, about 130 kilometers north of Managua.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Baez, exiled in Miami since 2019, had earlier communicated the news of the release and exile in a mass at the Church of Santa Agatha.

Baez, who has maintained permanent communications with Nicaragua since leaving the country, said he received the information “since this morning, both from Rome and Washington and Managua.”

The government’s statement cited the possibility of a “frank, direct, sensible and very serious dialogue” with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church as recognition.

previously, The Nicaraguan government has described the church as a “mafia” and the bishops as “monsters in cassocks”.After being accused of supporting the social uprising of 2018, which put the Sandinista administration in check with large protests for several months.

With his voice brimming with emotion, Bishop Baez thanked Pope Francis “for his interest, his closeness and his affection for Nicaragua” and “for the effectiveness of Vatican diplomacy.”

“I say it with great pleasure,” said the preface. “Daniel Ortega’s Criminal Sandinista Dictatorship Unable to Resist God’s Power”He added after the assurance that the religious had already landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport “and have been welcomed by the Holy See.”

He added that everything happened after almost a month of “endless prayers” for Alvarez and other religious “unjustly kidnapped.”

For his part, Uriel Vallejos, parish priest of Sebeco (North) and exiled priest in the United States, reported the exile very early in his account of X.

“Ortega-Murillo wants to leave Nicaragua without priests. Another plane full of priests to be deported from town. Free Nicaragua!! Long live the Catholic Church!! Long live the exiled priests!! Long live the exiles!!”Vallejos wrote.

The list of those expelled from Nicaragua includes the Bishop of Ciuna (Northeast), Monsignor Isidoro Mora, and several priests who are authorities in the Archdiocese of Managua, such as Vicar Silvio Fonseca, Miguel Mantica, and Carlos Aviles.

The statement identified Oscar Jose Escoto, Jader Danilo Guido, Pablo Villafranca, Hector Treminio, Marcos Diaz, Fernando Calero, Michael Monterey, Raul Zamora, Gerardo Rodriguez, Ismael Serrano, Jader Hernandez, Guido and Jader Hernandez, Ismael Serrano. As well as seminarians like Alastair Sainz and Tony Palacios.

This is the second eviction of imprisoned priests in Nicaragua. On October 18, the Ortega government deported 12 priests after negotiations with the Vatican, as officially reported in Managua.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis expressed his concern about the “alarming situation in Nicaragua” and the “crisis that has been going on for some time with painful consequences for the entire Nicaraguan society, especially for the Catholic Church”. He also called for “respectful diplomatic dialogue”.

(with information from AP)