Edit: somebody please write Amnesty International. Sorry, just kidding. Please pray and consider sacrifices for Catholics living under oppression in the Vatican and everwhere there are Communists calling the shots! Thanks for donating to Katholisches.
Nicaraguan National Police and a special unit cordon off the Curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa, where Bishop Álvarez and his vicar general are staying.
(Managua) The National Police and a special unit of the Sandinista Ortega regime besieged the Curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa and prevented the bishop from entering it.
Similar repressive attempts at intimidation had taken place several times in the past few months. The bishop himself was followed at every turn by plainclothes police, which is why he even went on a hunger strike. Since the strongest critic of the socialist regime among the bishops was retired by Pope Francis, Bishop Álvarez has taken over this position.
Because the police are besieging parishes in his diocese, Bishop Rolando Álvarez announced that he would celebrate a Mass with the intention of asking for protection for his priests. A celebration in the cathedral was impossible because of the police presence. So the bishop went with the vicar general, six priests and six laymen to the episcopal curia to celebrate in the chapel there.
Bishop Álvarez reported on the radio that he was going to go to the besieged parish to celebrate with the faithful when he was told that the curia had also been surrounded by police forces. The bishop went to where his vicar general was already.
The Chief of Police of the Department of Matagalpa, Sergio Gutiérrez, who was present, asked the Bishop to cooperate, to which the Bishop replied: "You are the ones who do not cooperate".
"Those who don't cooperate are the police forces because they don't let priests into churches or seminarians into seminars for Eucharistic adoration, liturgy, communion and prayer.
And now the police are asking me to cooperate. The police say we are the ones causing fear, when they are the ones blocking access to the Curia, the ones standing on my doorstep and not letting anyone in."
Bishop Álvarez accused the national police, led by Francisco Díaz, a close confidant of President Ortega, of "not allowing freedom of movement, freedom of expression and freedom of religion".
"I ask the police, in all courtesy and before the Lord, to let us celebrate the Eucharist, to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and to leave the door of my house, the door of the Curia, and let in the faithful who are entering the Church coming to worship his Lord."
And further:
"The devil wants to lead us into the temptation of hate, despair and division. Hate is answered with love, division is answered with unity, and despair with hope."
If the police want to enter his home, he welcomes them, the bishop said, but they should end the cordon that prevents him from entering and others from accessing him.
The bishop tried to hug the police chief and officers present "as a sign of peace, but they wouldn't allow it."
The bishop knelt down in the street to pray and had the Holy of Holies brought to him by the Vicar General. With this he finally approached the police, who backed off. This made it possible for the bishop and his vicar general to enter the curia. The six other priests and six lay people who were with the bishop were denied entry.
According to the bishop, he will remain in the curia together with his vicar general. In the chapel there he celebrated the mass to protect the priests, which was broadcast on the church radio station.
In his sermon, he complained that plainclothes police officers attended masses, recorded sermons, and "investigated us as if we were plotting a conspiracy."
Recently, in the Diocese of Matagalpa alone, the Sandinista regime shut down six Catholic radio stations in a bid to choke off the Church's voice.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Twitter/César Jiménez Mtz
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
