Dominican bishops stand in solidarity with the Nicaraguan Catholics
The bishops of the Dominican Republic expressed “great concern” on Monday for the Catholic people of Nicaragua and, especially, for the arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, a critic of the Government of Daniel Ortega arrested in the early hours of August 19.
In a press release, the Dominican Episcopate Conference (CED) referred to “the serious and painful events that the Catholic people of that country are suffering, especially in the person of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez.”
Through the document, the CED joins “the voices of so many brother bishops from other nations and international public opinion” to express our solidarity with our Nicaraguan Catholic brothers and ask the faithful to “pray intensely” so that “the harassment that prevents them from living and expressing their faith in peace and freedom».
“The threats and arrests, the violence and the harassment against pastors and laity of the Nicaraguan people hurt us deeply. We are hurt, in the same way, by the desecration and destruction of sacred objects and places, “adds the statement, where they reiterate their solidarity and constant prayer.
Bishop Álvarez, a strong critic of the Ortega government, was arrested in the early hours of August 19 by police officers who forcibly entered the episcopal curia of Matagalpa (north), where he had been confined for 15 days, in full escalation state against the Catholic Church.
Álvarez, 55, is the first bishop arrested since the return to power of Ortega (2007), whose relations with the Catholic Church, religion and believers in Nicaragua have been plagued by friction for 43 years.
In 2022, the Catholic Church in Nicaragua has suffered the imprisonment or retention of priests, the cancellation of eight radio stations and three Catholic channels, the forced entry and search of a parish, and the expulsion of the missionaries of the Mother Teresa of Calcutta order. .