The silence of the lambs: the order of Pope Francis to the Nicaraguan clerics
By La Prensa, July 26, 2024
In this article we tell you how Nicaraguan clerics are crushed between a strict order of silence from the Pope and the repression of the dictatorship which has no end.
This past July 14 was six months since the release from prison of two Nicaraguan bishops, 18 priests, among those who were the best prepared in the country, and two seminarians. All were banished to the Vatican by the dictatorship which cancelled their Nicaraguan nationality after a “difficult negotiation”, according to what Mons. Paul Richard Gallagher , the Secretary for Foreign Relations of the Vatican, said.
When those who were released from prison arrived at the Vatican, they received an order from the Pope: do not continue denouncing the abuses, human rights violations and crimes against humanity of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. But the order was not just for them, but for all the clergy.
Mons. Silvio Báez, who despite finding himself in exile since April 2019, has been confirmed by the Pope as the auxiliary bishop of Managua, was called to Rome this January and since then has not returned to celebrate mass in the Santa Agatha Church in Miami, in the heart of the exile community, from where he preached to Nicaraguans inside and outside of the country. No one else has spoken again.
“There is guidance from the Vatican to not say absolutely anything, supposedly to not continue causing problems for the Catholic Church in Nicaragua,” said the lawyer Martha Patricia Molina for this article, the author of the study Nicaragua, a Persecuted Church?
“The order is to say absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing,” emphasized Molina.
“The problem is that the world might think that in Nicaragua everything is normal”
“The problem with this order of silence is that the world might think that in Nicaragua now everything is normal, when there is nothing normal in Nicaragua,” said a priest in exile who requested anonymity.
A consequence of this silence happened Wednesday July 24th. The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) convened a panel of international experts and Nicaraguan activists to participate in the forum: Deterioration in the conditions for religious liberty in Nicaragua so they might testify about the repressive campaign which the Ortega-Murillo regime has unleashed against the Catholic Church since 2018. Nevertheless, no priest participated in the panel, in spite of the fact that there are three Nicaraguan Bishops who have been forced into exile and who could have made extraordinary contributions with their testimonies.
A specific example of how the order of Pope Francis to the Nicaraguan clergy is being implemented, maintaining strict silence inside as well as outside of Nicaragua, could be the case of the priest Uriel Vallejos, who was the pastor of the Jesus of Divine Mercy Church in Sébaco in the Diocese of Matagalpa. On being forced into exile he had joined the San Isidro Labrador Parish in the Vázquez de Coronado village in San José, Costa Rica, but at the beginning of June was transferred to the Vatican.
Vallejos was probably the only voice of the Church who continued the denouncement from the pulpit until January of this year, when the order of silence was issued. Since his transfer to the Vatican, Vallejos has not made another pronouncement about Nicaragua.
According to Molina, the Bishop of Vallejos (Mons. Rolando Álvarez), called him to Rome “to do Theology Studies with an emphasis on the Social Doctrine of the Church.” Studies or not, La Prensa reported that Vallejos left “In obedience to his Bishop”, and the real result in the end is that he is silenced.
In spite of the silence, the repression against the Church continues
If part of the negotiation of the Vatican with the dictatorship to achieve the release from jail of the Bishops Rolando Álvarez and Isidoro Mora, 15 priests and two seminarians, in addition to allowing what remains of the Church to carry out their pastoral work, was this sepulchral silence, the dictatorship is not living up to its part of the agreement.
“The evil continues”, says a priest who requested anonymity, not just out of fear that the dictatorship might take reprisals against his relatives in Nicaragua, but also to not openly contravene the order of the Pope.
“They continue banishing priests, they have closed radio stations, the [bank] accounts continued frozen, the churches continue besieged, and our relatives constantly harassed…the only difference is that there are no priests in prison, but the persecution continues. That woman (Rosario Murillo, the Vice President of Nicaragua) continues spitting out poison every day against the Church, she is the enemy of God,” said the priest.
The last case of a cleric banished which was made public was that of Fr. Rodolfo French Naar, who is one of just eight priests of Mískito origin in Nicaragua, and was responsible for the parish of Waspam, in the Diocese of Siuna, in northeast Nicaragua.
French Naar travelled to the United States for reasons of work and when he got ready to return at the beginning of July the regime informed the airline that he was prohibited from returning.
“Some priests, inside as well as outside the country, have asked me to quit denouncing the dictatorship because they say that each time I talk they feel that the repression increases, “ added Molina.
In the coming weeks the lawyer will present the fifth edition of her study Nicaragua, A Persecuted Church?
Many banished priests are left hanging because of lack of support from their bishops
In addition to the harassment from the regime of Daniel Ortega and the silence imposed from the Vatican, Nicaraguan priests also confront the lack of support from some bishops inside the country. According to the count that the lawyer Molina has, there are around 140 priests who have been banished, either they have been prevented from returning, or they have seen themselves forced to leave in the face of the pressure.
The religious men in exile have sought to continue exercising their ministry in the dioceses of the countries where they have been able to settle, principally Costa Rica, United States, and Spain, nevertheless, and even though there are no extra priests anywhere, to be able to join a new diocese or mission, the priests who have been victims of the repression of the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship need a signed and sealed letter from their bishop on letterhead from the diocese from which they came.
“The letter of the bishop certifies that the priest was incarnated in their diocese, the years that he served, attests to his good conduct which certifies that he is apt to be at the head of the community, and explains the reasons why he had to leave, at the same time that it requests support, and if it might be possible for him to be assigned to a new mission, and in the same letter the bishop provides his own data so that he can be contacted for more information,” explained Molina.
Even though this might seem to be a simple formality to obtain, in some cases it has not been so simple. According to Molina and the priest consulted who asked for anonymity, the bishops who are not providing those letters to priests are Mons. René Sándigo in León; Mons. Jorge Solórzano in Granada, and the archbishop of Managua, Mons. Leopoldo Brenes.
“Especially Sándigo, is the one who cooperates the least,” said Molina. Bishop Sándigo has been pointed out to be close to the regime of Daniel Ortega.
The priest who asked for anonymity confirmed the situation. “It is difficult to get Mons. Sándigo and Mons. Brenes to provide the letters; the letter from the bishop is a requirement which the bishops request for the priest to be in order in any diocese.”
“There are cases of priests who are left hanging, they continue being priests, but they cannot celebrate, but there have been benevolent bishops who know the situation of Nicaragua and have given a vote of confidence to the priests, but that depends now on the will of the bishop,” he added.
Nicaragua does not follow the vision of the Vatican about how Catholics should be involved in politics
From July 3-7 the Italian Catholic Church celebrated Holy Week for Catholics, and the theme of the Congress was “At the heart of democracy. Participating between history and the future.” Pope Francis participated in its closing on Sunday July 7th.
“As Catholics, in this horizon, we cannot be content with a marginal or private faith,” said the Pope to some 1,200 participants in the conference in the Generali Convention Center, reported Aci Press. “This means not so much demanding to be heard, but, above all, having the courage to make proposals for justice and peace in the public debate…We have something to say, but not to defend privileges. We need to be a voice that denounces and makes proposals in a society at times without voice and in which too many do not have a voice,” said the Pope.
For Molina these words of Pope Francis refer to the Social Doctrine of the Church. “In his reflections the Catholic Church encourages the laity to participate in politics, to not fall asleep, not to live a religion at the margin of human and social reality,” she stated.
This could be true for the rest of the world, but obviously it does not apply to Nicaragua under the dictatorship of Ortega and Murillo.