The Vatican asks Nicaragua to respect “religious freedom” – DW – 09/28/2024

The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, called on the Nicaraguan authorities on Saturday (09/28/2024) to respect freedom of worship after the government’s repression against members of the Catholic Church in the country.

The Holy See is “particularly concerned” about “the actions taken against church personnel and institutions, which directly affect the sensitive issue of religious freedom,” the monks told the UN General Assembly in New York.

Parolin urged Daniel Ortega’s government to “adequately guarantee this freedom along with other fundamental rights,” before expressing the Vatican’s readiness to enter into a “respectful and constructive dialogue” with the country’s authorities.

The Ortega regime accuses the church of supporting the 2018 protests

The Ortega regime expelled seven Nicaraguan priests from the country on August 7.

Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, accuse the Catholic Church of supporting the 2018 protests against the government, which left more than 300 people dead, according to the United Nations, and which Managua considers a Washington-sponsored coup attempt.

From April 2018 to March 2024, there were at least 73 cases of arbitrary detention of members of the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, according to Nicaraguan journalist Emiliano Chamorro, who is exiled in the United States.

In January, Ortega’s government released two Catholic bishops, including Rolando Alvarez and other religious, and sent them to Rome.

p (AFP/Vatican)