The husbands and co -presidents of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, lamented on Monday the death of Pope Francis, with whom, they recognized, they had “difficult” and “rugged” relationships that led Managua to officially suspend their diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
“Our relationships, as believers, devout and faithful to the doctrine of Jesus Christ, were difficult, unfortunately influenced by adverse and painful circumstances that were not always understood,” Ortega and Murillo wrote in a message of condolences.
“Despite the complex and hard, despite the manipulations that we all know, despite the regrets, we kept our hope in high from the Christian faith, and we knew how to understand the distance and, above all, the complicated and altered communication that did not allow us the best relationships, although we also knew how to understand the confusion generated by Altisonant voices that hindered all attempt of true interaction,” they said.
Communist dictatorship and Hitler
In March 2023, Pope Francis described as a “rude dictatorship” the Ortega regime in Nicaragua, one month after the conviction for “betrayal of the homeland” of the Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez at 26 years and 4 months in prison, now exiled and denialized.
“With much respect, I have no choice but to think about an imbalance of the person who runs (Ortega). There we have a prisoner bishop, a very serious, very capable man. He wanted to give his testimony and did not accept exile,” said Francisco to the Argentine portal Infobaefrom his residence in Santa Marta, in the city of the Vatican, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his papacy.
“It is one thing that is out of what we are living, it is as if it were to bring the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitlerian of 35, bring the same here … They are a type of rude dictatorships. Or, to use a beautiful distinction of Argentina, Guarangas,” said the highest authority of the Catholic Church.
Ortega, in turn, accused the Vatican of being part of the “conglomerate of fascism,” dissolved and expropriated the company of Jesus – known as the Jesuits -, order to which the Supreme Pontiff belonged, and has expelled 46 priests and bishops from Nicaragua since 2018. He has also banned the entrance to the country of other tens of priests.
He has also described the Church as “mafia” and has accused her of being anti -democratic for not allowing Catholics to choose by direct vote to the Pope, the cardinals, the bishops and the priests.
Call to peace
In his message of condolences, Ortega and Murillo stressed that the Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the first Latin American and Caribbean Pope of the American continent and committed “with the deep teachings of San Francisco de Asís”.
“We admire their paths through the world promoting peace, and trying to generate a church committed to the duty and responsibility of creating concord, from the indispensable solidarity and brotherhood Christian,” they said.
Likewise, the Nicaraguan presidential couple sent their prayers “for the eternal rest of Pope Francis, trusting that God will allow the Catholic Church to call true peace, understanding, harmony, respect for solidarity and complementary cooperation, to contribute to transcend the painful conflicts we live, and promote and practice the teachings of the King of Kings, of Christ Jesus”.
To the Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, and the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, Ortega and Murillo sent their “considerations in these moments of transit to what we all want and need: the world better we must build, and the true fraternity, as the Gospel preaches with the strength of the great teacher, Jesus Christ, our Lord”. The relations of the government of Ortega and Murillo with the Catholic Church live moments of great tension, characterized by the expulsion, imprisonment and denationalization of bishops and priests, the prohibition of religious activities and processions, and the suspension of their diplomatic relations.