With Cardinal Brenes reaching the age of 75 and obliged by Canon Law to submit his resignation, the Pope is faced with a decision about the future leadership of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. This article reflects the complexity of that decision given the situation of Church State relations in Nicaragua.
Series |Challenge for the Vatican: Pope Francis must define the leadership of Nicaraguan Catholics
La Prensa May 10, 2024
LA PRENSA presents a new installment in the series of articles that will delve deeply into the dictatorship’s persecution of the Catholic Church. The articles will not be published consecutively, but they document for posterity this dark period of our history.
When Pope Francis in 2013 wished that young Catholics would fully participate in the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, he asked them for one thing: “Make a ruckus” [Hagan lío] But after six years of government harassment and persecution, Nicaraguan priests are not asked by the pope to “make a ruckus” in the face of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s dictatorship; quite the opposite: silence and submissive attitudes.
Nicaraguans, accustomed to a long tradition in which the Catholic Church has consistently spoken out against government abuses, now watch with concern as the Episcopal Conference (CEN) remains silent.
For months, while Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa, and several dozen priests, seminarians, and deacons at different moments were in prison, the Episcopal Conference did not speak out for their release, nor even for fair treatment for those who were incarcerated.
The obligatory resignation for age of Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes
Many do not understand what is happening with the Nicaraguan Church or where it might be heading. Questions about the direction of the Church have increased since Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, turned 75 in March and submitted his resignation to Pope Francis, as required by canon law.
As of now, Cardinal Brenes has not received a response from the Vatican. The pope could either accept his resignation or extend his service as Archbishop simply by not responding.
Knowledgeable individuals consulted on the matter, who agreed to give their opinion on condition of anonymity, leaned towards the idea that the pope would keep Brenes for as long as possible, as his “prudent” character aligns with what the Vatican desires for the behavior of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.
The current policy of the Vatican excludes Álvarez and Báez
But the mere possibility of his resignation being accepted has raised questions about who would be the successor at a time when the Vatican does not want confrontation which would put at risk the fundamental work of the Church: evangelization.
“Everything is being done according to the will of the Holy See,” said a parishioner from León, knowledgeable about the situation in that diocese.
And if the Church does not want priests and bishops to confront the government in order to avoid more arrests and repression, the candidate to succeed Cardinal Brenes as Archbishop would have to be one of the bishops who have not stood out as confrontational. Amidst the protests, two religious figures raised their voices forcefully: Monsignor Silvio Báez, Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, and Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa.
But the belligerence of both bishops, especially during the harshest repression, gained them exile and denationalization by the regime, both illegal and unjust measures. The appointment of either of them as Archbishop of Managua would be interpreted by the regime as a new gesture of confrontation.
Sándigo “campaigning?
One figure eludes that obstacle: Monsignor René Sócrates Sándigo, Bishop of the Diocese of León. For years Sándigo has been showing himself to be conciliatory with the regime, and has refused to take actions or make statements against the ruling couple. This has led to accusations of him being a Sandinista. Some observers of the situation have even claimed that Sándigo is “campaigning” to be archbishop.
At the same time, this has allowed Sándigo to be the only bishop authorized by the dictatorship to carry out processions and other religious events outside of churches. If the regime is concerned about priests using the pulpit to criticize it, that concern does not apply to Sándigo.
But that creates another obstacle.
The appointment as head of the only archdiocese in the country that is perceived as submissive to the government could cause a profound rejection by the faithful.
The layman from León says that monsignor Sándigo is a strong-willed man, who was appointed in León to restore order after the mandate of monsignor Bosco Vivas, whom he described as a very good man, of whom some priests took advantage in order to not follow his guidelines.
“Sándigo was placed here in León to restore order. Let’s be clear about that,” he explained. “The problem Sándigo has is that he didn’t resonate at all with the parishioners here in León, he didn’t resonate.”
The “stain” of Sándigo in Chontales
But one of the most serious criticisms of Sándigo dates back to the time when he was bishop of the Diocese of Chontales. When the protests erupted across the country in April 2018, Sándigo was in Chontales.
That department has a history of rejecting Sandinism and has many members of the Peasant Movement that fought against the execution of the Grand Project of the Interoceanic Canal.
As the protests broke out, farmers from the Nueva Guinea area set up a roadblock on April 23, 2018. However, they quickly realized they would be more effective if they set up the roadblock in San Pedro de Lóvago. At that junction, they would block the roads leading to Juigalpa, Acoyapa, and Santo Tomás, three important centers of agricultural and dairy production. On May 10, they moved to that junction. They would remain there for the next two months.
By mid-July 2018, the so-called “Cleanup Operation” had begun in almost the entire country. Most of the roadblocks in the central zone of the country had been cleared by the police and paramilitaries. The junction of San Pedro de Lóvago was unprotected. There was a lot of nervousness at the roadblock. From about 2,000 farmers, participation dropped to about 500. At night, the farmers hardly slept. Many began to suffer from nervous disorders.
On July 13, they received the news that the regime had arrested Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena, two founders of the anti-canal movement.
Father Carlos Abea, parish priest of the San Martín church in Nueva Guinea, visited the roadblock on several occasions to watch over his parishioners in that place. In January 2020, Abea confirmed to La Prensa that the farmers at the roadblock asked Bishop Sándigo to accompany them in the convoy of trucks in which they would return to their community.
“They (the farmers) tried to negotiate for the bishop to come and achieve the demobilization of the roadblock,” Abea told La Prensa. “But Bishop Sándigo from Chontales refused. He said he wouldn’t go.”
The attack in Poza Azul against the farmers
Shortly after leaving San Pedro de Lóvago, a phone call alerted the members of the truck convoy that they were being awaited at the location known as Poza Azul to attack them.
The warning came too late. Almost at the same time, gunshots rang out. To this day, there is no official tally of the number of dead, wounded, or missing. The government even denies that there had been any massacre.
The attack appears in the report of the United Nations Group of Experts on Human Rights in Nicaragua: “The withdrawal of the peasants in convoy began in the early hours of July 14. However, a few kilometers from Lóvago, on the road to Santo Tomás, agents of the National Police and members of pro-government armed groups blocked the road and began to indiscriminately shoot at the convoy with firearms.”
Mairena is saddened by the denial of the truth of the massacre and is upset to think that someone who refused to accompany his people in such a difficult time would end up in such an important position.
Regarding Sándigo, Mairena said, “We didn’t see that support from him, we didn’t see him speak out in favor of the people who were being cowardly massacred, they were murdering them, but we didn’t see him as a Christian being closer to the laity, closer to the people, denouncing what is unjust.”
Mairena: “Denouncing injustices is being confrontational?”
Mairena says that both Bishop Rolando Álvarez and Bishop Silvio Báez would be good alternatives for Archbishop of Managua. He says that both have earned the distinction of standing by their people and are not afraid to speak out to defend them from crimes and abuses. He says that neither of them is confrontational.
“No bishop, including those who have been exiled, has had a confrontational discourse because in reality bishops do not use that. The only thing they have been is firm in denouncing all the injustices that these people have been committing. So that is where they see it as a confrontational issue, but in reality, it’s not a confrontation,” stated the peasant leader.
In other words, if you denounce the bad things they are doing, that is not seeking a confrontational discourse. That is being a very just, very correct person, and that’s what each of the bishops, priests, are called to do, which is to denounce,” Mairena added. “So, in fact, anyone who doesn’t do it, who ignores injustices, what are they doing? Well, I would believe that they are actually lacking a lot as a pastors in caring for their sheep.”
But if the pope is guided by the maxim of achieving what is possible rather than what is ideal, a bishop as described by Mairena is not what he is looking for. The layman from León makes it clear, “one of the characteristics of the Church and priests should be equanimity… if they see you as a sympathizer of the government, those who are not Sandinistas will leave, and if you start criticizing, the Sandinista Catholics will leave. What should be sought is that no one leaves, that the Catholic faith grows.”
The Church has ceded on everything, but the repression continues
Since the protests of 2018 and the following wave of repression, when the Episcopal Conference tried to mediate in the National Dialogue, the regime has not hesitated in surpassing the repressive acts committed against the Church in the decade of the 1980s.
Now they have expelled the Apostolic Nuncio, suspended relations with the Vatican, Daniel Ortega himself has called the authorities in Rome “an organized mafia”, they have expelled entire religious orders, forced numerous priests into exile, denied the return of others who traveled outside the country, closed religious radio and television stations.
They have arrested priests, sentenced them to long jail terms without fair trials to later banish them from the country, confiscated the Central American University (UCA) from the Society of Jesus, and have prohibited traditional processions and other religious acts, including the celebration of the anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin of Cuapa this past Wednesday May 8th.
The Chinese model of relations with the Vatican
And since the dictator Daniel Ortega tends to see China as the model to follow, many are asking themselves whether he is looking to get the Vatican to accept the model which that Asian giant has imposed on the Catholic Church there.
The Chinese communist government in 1975 created the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics. Their objective: control Catholics. In that association, it is the Chinese government that names bishops, even though the Vatican can issue a veto if it disagrees. Pope Francis has defended the acceptance of this scheme stating that the ideal and the possible are not the same thing.
“In the face of a closed situation – explained the Pope, according to the web page Aceprensa.com – you have to seek the possible path, not the ideal; diplomacy is the art of the possible and doing what is possible becomes what is real.”
Priests in China are required to register with the Association to be able to exercise their ministry. Those who do not accept registering suffer from pressures imposed by the Chinese regime, like not being able to use electronic forms of payment and other forms of harassment.
Nicaragua has not gotten to the point that the government names the bishops. It can neither name them nor veto them. But they can arrest, sentence and torment with new waves of repression. The challenge of the Church is then to present a conciliatory face and discourse, without, at any time, bowing to the government. It still has not achieved that.
Eventually the Pope will have to decide
The Vatican will eventually have to decide who will lead the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. One option is that they would extend the period of service of Cardinal Brenes, in spite of having turned 75 years old. They extended the term of his predecessor, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo to beyond the age of 79.
Cardinal Brenes, nevertheless, according to the layperson from León who is very knowledgeable about the situation in the Diocese of León, could be facing problems because many priests have considered it a lack of leadership in protecting the priests who have been persecuted and incarcerated.
“In the sense that you have Silvio Báez who obviously has informed Rome that the Cardinal has been not very confrontational. You have Rolando Álvarez, who now is in Rome, also saying that the Cardinal never stood up for him,” said this layman from León, who is very close to the Diocese of León and its priests. “You have all the priests of Managua who left recently, who likewise are going to say that the Cardinal never stood up for them.”
“You have CELAM which is the Latin American Episcopal Conference, which reports to the Pope that the voice of the Cardinal was never heard in defense of anything. Do you understand me? So, you have a lot of information before the Holy See that the Cardinal has kept silent,” added the layperson.
An archbishop is wanted with the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job
The layperson from León for his part says that the successor of Cardinal Brenes could be Mons. Álvarez or Báez. And he adds that what is important is that they lead in an impartial manner, because to resolve the crisis in Nicaragua, sooner or later, they would have to sit down to talk with those with whom they have profound differences.
“Even though you may be right, a conflict is not solved with shouting. In other words, even though you might be right in your demand, I cannot say to you “go ahead, shout at him,” but I can say to you “look, we are going to sit down and talk,” explained the layman. “And the mediator has to be a person who is equanimous and who does not show himself to be inclined to your side or the other side. You must have a lot of wisdom.”
Besides Sándigo who is seen as close to the regime, or Báez, Álvarez and Isidoro Mora, the Bishop of Siuna, who the dictatorship stripped of their nationality, the Vatican could still choose among the other bishops: Solórzano in Granada, Guzmán in Chontales, Tigerino in Bluefields, Herrera in Jinotega, or even another priest of Nicaragua. Or, as a last resort, and even though it is not very common, the Pope could name a foreign priest Archbishop of Managua who is exercising his ministry outside of the country.
