How is Lent in Nicaragua with the suppressed Church?

orSpanish Bishop Emeritus Ángel Garachana expressed this Friday in Honduras his “complete rejection” “dictatorial government” of Nicaragua and expressed regret that the Catholic Church in that country was forbidden to hold Via Crucis processions during Holy Week.

“I express my complete rejection of this model of government,” Garachana emphasized during the Stations of the Cross in the city of La Ceiba, Honduras in the Caribbean.

He said he hoped this dictatorial model would “never happen” in Honduras, a country where “we have the freedom to express our faith privately and publicly.”

“In Nicaragua, due to the dictatorship of those in power, not only are democratic expressions of a political and social nature prohibited, but even public expressions of religion are prohibited.” complained Garachan, who recently stepped down as head of the Archdiocese of San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras.

He added that the Via Crucis procession is prohibited “It is one of the many signs that this is a dictatorial government that imposes its way of thinking and does not allow believers the political or religious freedom to express their faith.”

Public expression of religion is a right that must be respected, and disobeying it is a form of dictatorial power that imposes its unique thought on everyone else, he pointed out.

Garachana commented that many Nicaraguans traveled to Honduras to participate in the processions, while other believers live out their faith in Nicaragua “behind closed doors” in churches.

The bishop in peace added that “one way or another the dictatorial government will fall and better times will come for Christian believers” in Nicaragua.

In February, the Nicaraguan National Police banned the Nicaraguan Catholic Church from holding Stations of the Cross processions during Lent and Holy Week.

The bishop of the Nicaraguan Diocese of León and Chinandega (West), Socrates René Sandigo, said on February 24 that police authorities have only authorized Stations of the Cross inside or in the atriums of parishes, but not on the streets.

They condemn the violation of religious freedom
Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes shared a program of activities for Holy Week at Managua Cathedral, confirming that processions, including the Stations of the Cross, will take place in the temple and not on the streets of the capital, where thousands are gathered. thousands of people come

He Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) Through his social networks, he condemned that “bans of Lent and Holy Week processions in Nicaragua are a flagrant violation of freedom of conscience, religion and freedom of expression.”

“This year, without processions at the national level, Holy Week will be incomplete, crippled, the body of people’s participation will be absent, but in the face of so much repression, the people’s ardor must be resisted and strengthened,” said the organization, which predicted that “sooner yes later Nicaraguans will come out again in processions and at liberty”.

Nicaragua’s bishops’ conference has not officially decided to ban the processions, although church sources told local press that police authorities said “for security reasons there was no permission to perform the Stations of the Cross.”

Suspension of relations with the Vatican
Pope Francis described Ortega’s executive power as an “indecent dictatorship”, a month after the conviction of Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez, sentenced to more than 26 years in prison for crimes considered “treason”, and after these statements by the Sandinista leader, according to an interview published on 10 . March.

“With great respect, I have no choice but to think about the imbalance in the person who leads (Ortega). There we have a bishop in prison, a very serious, very capable man. He wanted to give his testimony and did not accept exile,” Francisco asserted. to the Argentinian portal Infobae from his residence in Santa Marta, in the Vatican, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his papacy.

Ortega’s government later reported that “the suspension of diplomatic relations between the Vatican State and the Republic of Nicaragua has been proposed.”

In mid-March, the Vatican closed its diplomatic headquarters in Nicaragua, and its charge d’affaires in Managua, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, left the Central American country.

Nicaragua has had no ambassador to the Holy See since September 21, 2021, when Ortega canceled the appointment of Ellietta Ortega Sotomayor, and only has a Minister Counselor for Negotiations.

Likewise, in March 2022, Ortega’s government expelled the apostolic nuncio, Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag.