With Andrés Henriquez

ACI Prensa Team, 13 November 2024 / 14:35

The dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, prevents priests from entering Nicaragua’s hospitals and administering the rite of anointing the sick to those in need, according to the report’s author, attorney Martha Patricia Molina.Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?”

About 10 priests from different dioceses confirmed the situation to Molina; However, Molina stated in an interview with the Spanish edition of EWTN News that a few more priests were allowed into hospitals, “but these are priests who have some kind of ties to the dictatorship; sometimes they have the possibility of entering hospitals, but it is not a common thing,” he explained.

The lawyer noted that before this year, the Sandinista dictatorship allowed priests to enter health facilities. Security measures have been tightened without justification, and the persecution becomes even more severe when priests try to enter in religious clothing, so many people choose to wear secular clothing.

Molina said the problem is even more serious in the interior of the country: “Because the towns are so small, the priests are more well-known, so the authorities, the doctors in the hospitals or the people who man the doors at the entrance to the hospital, I already know them, and they prevent them from coming in more quickly.”

“Elsewhere, for example in the capital, the people manning the entrances of hospitals do not know all the clergy in the Archdiocese of Managua, so they have a better chance of getting in, but they do not dress like priests; instead, they go there as laypeople to provide anointing of the sick for people who are dying,” he explained.

Pro-Ortega mayor desecrates Mass

Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera of Jinotega and president of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference at the Sunday Mass on November 10, Pro-Ortega called out to the mayor Jinotega, Leonidas Centeno, who interfered with the celebration of the Eucharist by playing loud music in front of the cathedral.

“My brothers (and sisters), before we begin this Eucharist, we ask the Lord for forgiveness, both for our own mistakes and for those who did not respect the sacrament. This is a disrespect – what the mayor and all the city officials do – and I will tell them this because they know the time of Mass and we support (them) because after Mass we go there to see each other; That’s why we all fail God. “Then let us ask God for forgiveness for them and for us,” said the bishop. The service was streamed live on the diocese’s Facebook page.

Molina also touched on this incident on his X account, calling Centeno a “paramilitary” and noting that he was a person “approved as mayor” by the US Treasury Department.

“He disrespects sacred values ​​and does not allow Christians to hear the celebration of the Eucharist. “He is a criminal who has no boundaries and whose crimes go unpunished,” the lawyer accused.

He completed his message with hashtags #iglesiaperseguidani (Persecuted Nicaraguan Church) and #SOSNicaragua.

this story first published By ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. Translated and adapted by CNA.

Andrés Henríquez is a Venezuelan writer specializing in religion and politics with more than five years of experience in bilingual media. It is a member of the Regnum Christi Federation.