12.03.2023
Relations between the Ortega regime and the Catholic Church have been deteriorating for some time, but they are not yet completely broken.
Nicaragua made a request to the Holy See for the closure of the respective diplomatic headquarters, although there is still no official rupture of diplomatic relations, according to Vatican sources.
The request has been for the closure of both the nunciature, Vatican representation in the country of the president Daniel Ortegaand the Nicaraguan embassy to the Holy See, they specified.
The decision taken by Ortega would have come following an interview was published on the Argentine portal Infobae, in which The Pope described the Ortega regime as a “rude dictatorship” in Nicaragua, one month following the Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa, is sentenced to 26 years and 4 months in prison. The interview in question was published this Friday, March 10.
“It is something that is outside of what we are experiencing, it is as if they brought the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitlerite of 35… They are a type of rude dictatorships. Or, to use a nice distinction from Argentina, guarangas,” he said Francisco in said interview.
Nicaragua does not have an ambassador to the Holy See since September 21, 2021, when Ortega canceled the appointment of Elliette Ortega Sotomayory, only has a counselor minister. Likewise, in March of last year, the Nicaraguan government also expelled the apostolic nuncio, Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag. Currently, Monsignor Mbaye Diouf, secretary of the Nunciature, is in charge of the Vatican diplomatic mission in Managua.
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.
mn (efe, Archyde.com)
