Ramírez 22 nic / Wikimedia Commons
CV NEWS FEED // The Nicaraguan government has called the Vatican “depraved” and “pedophilic,” after exiled Bishop Rolando Alvarez spoke in a Feb. 7 interview with EWTN News.
“From the millions of voices and souls, brutally silenced by the inquisition, all peoples sacrificed and bled by this depraved, pedophilic Vatican State, denounced as such worldwide, rise up,” wrote President Daniel Ortega’s Foreign Ministry, according to The Tico Times.
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In the interview, Bishop Alvarez clarified that, per Pope Francis’ wishes, he remains the visible head of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí, although he had expected to resign after he was exiled to Rome.
“The Vatican State intends to make decisions about positions and powers they grant, in Nicaragua, to people who ceased to be Nicaraguans, due to improper and intolerable conduct in promoting politically instigated crimes,” Ortega’s regime wrote.
The Foreign Ministry also compared the Vatican to a fascist dictatorship.
“The illicit and inappropriate conduct of falsifiers, pharisees, and prophets of emptiness, which we reject, differs in no way from behaviors and practices that derive from fascist, pro-imperialist ideologies, and can never be admitted, accepted, and much less applauded in Nicaragua,” the regime stated.
Ortega has severely persecuted the Church since his election as president in 2018, exiling hundreds of Catholic priests. The Tico Times states that Ortega blames the Church for supporting 2018 protests against him, in which 300 people died, according to the United Nations, something the Nicaraguan leader sees as a US coup attempt.
In January, Ortega seized the San Luis de Gonzaga Seminary in Matagalpa, as CatholicVote previously reported.
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