Msgr. Rolando Álvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, completes his first month under house arrest without knowing if there will be a trial against him.
ACN.– The police prevented the procession of St. Michael in the church of the same name in the city of Masaya last Monday. The Ortega government has increased its pressure against the Catholic Church with this gesture, arguing «reasons of public safety«. The city’s police chief had gone to the church the day before the procession to warn that the image could not leave the church.
In a statement issued by the Archdiocese of Managua, it was announced «that the National Police of the city of Masaya has informed the Confraternities and Parish Priests of the Parishes of San Miguel Arcángel and San Jerónimo, that for reasons of public safety, processions will not be allowed in the respective festivities of that city».
The Catholic Church of Managua invited «the devotees and those who promise the patron saints to keep in mind that faith and devotion are a treasure that we carry in our hearts and from there we can pay homage with the strength of this ancestral heritage in our communities».
«Masses, novenaries and liturgical celebrations for both festivities will be held according to the program of each of the parishes in the respective temples,» the statement said.
Other prohibited processions
It is not the first time that the Nicaraguan government prohibits a procession of the Catholic Church. It already did so in August when it ordered that the procession of the Virgin of Fatima not take place within the framework of the Marian Congress.
The San Miguel Arcangel parish in Masaya has been targeted by the dictatorship before. In 2018 paramilitary groups sympathetic to Daniel Ortega attacked the population and in 2019 a group of mothers and Fr. Edwing Román went on hunger strike in protest against the onslaught of the Ortega police against the Church and the local population.
Bishop Álvarez under house arrest for a month
On September 15, the European Parliament approved by 538 votes in favor and 16 against, a resolution demanding the immediate release of Bishop Rolando Alvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, arrested by the Nicaraguan police on August 19, together with a group of priests and collaborators. Since then the prelate has been under house arrest without knowing if there will be a trial against him. It has been reported that those arrested are being criminally investigated for incitement to hatred and violence in an attempt to destabilize the State.
The situation of the bishop of Matagalpa joins the expulsion of Nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag on March 12, the departure of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and other religious and priests, the closure of Catholic media. Pope Francis has on several occasions called for dialogue to overcome the social crisis.