10.03.2023
Pope Francis described the regime of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in his country as a “rude dictatorship”, following the sentence of a Nicaraguan bishop to 26 years and 4 months in prison.
“With great respect, I have no choice but to think regarding an imbalance in the person who leads (Daniel Ortega). There we have a bishop in prison, a very serious man, very capable. He wanted to give his testimony and did not accept exile,” Francisco told the Argentine portal Infobae from his residence in Santa Marta, in the Vatican Cityon the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his papacy.
The Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez, very critical of the Ortega governmentwas sentenced on February 10 to 26 years and 4 months in prison following being convicted of crimes considered “treason”, in the midst of the crisis in the Central American country.
Monsignor Álvarez refused to get on the plane that would take him, along with 222 other released Nicaraguan political opponents, to the United States, which provoked the fury of the dictator Daniel Ortegawho called him “superb”, “insane” and “energúmeno”.
“It is something that is outside of what we are experiencing, it is as if it were bringing the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitlerite dictatorship of 1935, bringing the same ones here… They are a type of rude dictatorship. Or, to use a nice distinction of Argentina, guarangas”, affirmed the highest authority of the Catholic Church.
On February 21, the Nicaraguan president described the Church as a “mafia” and accused it of being undemocratic for not allowing Catholics to elect the pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests by direct vote.
The Pope hopes for “regime change” in Venezuela
During the conversation, Francisco was also asked regarding the political situation in Venezuela and confirmed his confidence that there might be a regime change.
“I think so. I think so because it is the historical circumstances that are going to force them to change the way they have a dialogue. I think so, that is, I never close the door to possible solutions. On the contrary, I encourage it,” he wrote. the supreme pontiff.
Pope Francis, 86, will celebrate ten years at the helm of the Catholic Church next Monday, a period in which he has focused his efforts on reforming the Holy See to make it more transparent and effective, not without opposition from the most Vatican conservatives.
jov (efe, confidentialdigital)
