Daniel Ortega by TV Brasil - EBC, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
CV NEWS FEED // La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest independent paper, this week published an article criticizing President Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship of “relentless cruelty” and his ongoing “campaign of aggression against the Catholic Church.”
On March 19 La Prensa published an article about recent insights from Martha Patricia Molina, a lawyer “who closely monitors the attacks against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church.” Molina reported that because of Ortega’s orders exiling priests, thousands of Holy Week and Lenten observances and processions, such as Stations of the Cross, will not take place this year.
In 2021, the Nicaraguan government seized La Prensa’s headquarters and exiled the paper’s writers. The writers still publish the paper from a new location outside the country.
La Prensa highlighted that Ortega exiled priests already this year, contributing to the laity’s lack of access to the sacraments and liturgical celebrations. Many priests, seminarians, and two bishops were imprisoned in recent years under the Ortega regime.
In January, the Ortega regime released these clergy, exiling them to Rome after extensive negotiations with the Vatican. In October of 2023, 12 priests were also released from prison in Nicaragua and exiled to Rome.
According to Molina, the government is planning to host liturgical celebrations without the permission – or participation – of the Catholic Church. She stressed that “the Archdiocese of Managua will not hold the Penitential Way of the Cross, which traditionally was one of the religious activities with the highest participation of Catholic faithful,” according to La Prensa.
Because many parishes are restricted from outdoor processions and liturgical observances, this year they are hoping to still hold indoor religious activities, such as praying the rosary inside the churches.
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