This week an audio was released by Rafael Valdez, a leader of the Base Christian Community of St Paul the Apostle, where the voice of Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Báez is heard, which Valdez claims prove that the bishops have been conspiring against the regime, and are therefore biased and thus can no longer serve as mediators. Since the first session of the national dialogue on May 16, when a student from the UCA called Ortega to step down because of the 55 students who had been killed since April 18th, the government has called the students and their supporters “coup mongers”. Since the bishops in the dialogue asked Ortega to hold early elections, it has been clear to everyone in Nicaragua that Ortega has wanted to replace the bishops as mediators. This incident falls within this context.
Catholics of Nicaragua ask Pope Francis to remove Silvio Báez from Nicaragua
Silvio Báez is an obstacle for Peace and Reconciliation
Wednesday, October 14, 2018 In El 19 Digital (official media of FSLN)
https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/titulo:83046-silvio-baez-es-un-obstaculo-para-la-paz-y-la-reconciliacion
The bishop, Silvio Báez, a member of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, is an obstacle for Peace and reconciliation, stated Rafael Valdez, a member of the Saint Paul the Apostle Christian Community, who released an audio where the official of the Catholic Church spoke about the destabilization plan for the country, to remove the government of President Daniel Ortega Saavedra. In declarations to the EN VIVO magazine, Valdez insisted in that the request to Pope Francis is that he remove the bishop from Nicaragua who is corrupted by hate and a thirst for power.
“What we are asking is that he leave because he is doing damage to the Catholic Church, because the Catholic Church is not the Curia, nor the hierarchy, the Catholic Church is the believing people. That is the Catholic Church. And he is doing damage to this believing people, because with his actions he has been able to divide the flock,” explained Valdez.
“Now it ends up that there are some Catholic Christians who are on one side and other Christians who are another side, because he has divided them, or they (the bishops) have divided them, because they have taken biased positions, and they have not been really who they should be, pastors who love peace, reconciliation, who strive for people to understand one another, dialoguing and not killing one another; and they have been doing just the opposite. So, this is a detrimental man for the church itself and is doing it damage. He should leave this country for the good of everyone, the people, the church itself. The church would feel better with people like this outside, let them go and teach, be professors,” he added.
Valdez stated that Silvio Báez “is not someone who is going to contribute to peace and reconciliation.”
“On the contrary, this man promotes hate, because he is full of hate. His expressions that come out in the video are expressions of hate. Saying that it does not matter who he is going to ally with, whether with the devil, evildoers, criminals, drug traffickers, as long as the objective is achieved that he wants, which is to remove the current government, is an expression of hate. Or saying: we are not going to kill him, even though I would like to, he says…so that is an expression that shows the depth of his hate, because the Word of God itself says that out of the mouth comes what one has in their heart. And if he said that, it is because he has it deep within himself. So a person like this is not going to contribute ever to that there be peace and reconciliation, he is an obstacle for peace and reconciliation,” he said.
The member of the Christian community said that Báez is a politician in a cassock.
“He is promoting continuity, when he talks about new barricades as an ingenious invention that they have had in order to do damage, to destroy the country, to cause death. They are opting once again for violence, so that cannot be a path for peace, ever,” he pointed out.
With these attitudes, explained Valdez, what the hierarchy are going is burying the Catholic church.
“These bishops and priests who have been doing damage for many years, they are burying it, they are the ones who are burying the Catholic Church. And that is why there is a large desertion of people who used to call themselves Catholics and now opt for another type of religiosity, but it is because they are disillusioned because those people are not teaching the true Gospel, but what they have done is something else. There is an estimate that 40 million Catholics in Latin America have abandoned the Catholic church and have become evangelicals,” he emphasized.
He added to this the fact that the bishops lie in such a brazen way, and it seems that they are saying the truth. “It is evident to me that they are big liars, they lie without mercy and they are not ashamed of lying,” he stated.
Likewise, he said that the church can no longer be the mediator of any dialogue, because it is automatically left disqualified.
“No one can be a mediator who clearly has a bias toward one side. I cannot sit down at a table and be the mediator and be telling the other side, “continue with your struggle, do not stop”. This is not mediation,” he said.
He also described as unfortunate and conspiratorial the attitude of Cardinal Brenes on the matter that involves Báez in a conspiratorial coup.
“It is unfortunate because he (Brenes) with that attitude is backing what this man has done, and so he is making himself an accomplice and participant in these actions, and he cannot now claim ignorance, unless you tell me that what there is there is not true, but it is clear, it is obvious it is him, there is not the slightest doubt,” he assured.
“The [Bishops] Conference disqualified itself by supporting that attitude. It is impossible to be a mediator in this way, there cannot be more dialogue, nor anything of that,” he indicated.
The Christian community of Saint Paul the Apostle, who revealed the audios of Silvio Báez where he confirmed his role of organizer of the destabilization and destruction of Nicaragua, has more than 53 years of existing as a Base Ecclesial Community.