“To the families and communities that at this moment feel the absence of their priests or are experiencing other types of hardship, I want to express my closeness,” the Nicaraguan cardinal said.
“Let us ask the good God for the grace of wisdom and for our words and actions to bear witness to that patience that achieves everything, and for the light of Jesus to help us all to find paths of concord and fraternity. With Mary, Our Mother, at the foot of the cross, may the Lord console us and show us his mercy,” the prelate said.
During the recitation of the Marian prayer of the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Jan. 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Pope Francis also expressed his solidarity with the bishops of the Central American country.
Furthermore, on Jan. 8, the pontiff reaffirmed his condemnation of what is happening in the country during a meeting with the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.
“The situation in Nicaragua also remains worrying; it’s a crisis that has been going on for a long time with painful consequences for the entire Nicaraguan society, particularly for the Catholic Church,” the pope said, noting that “the Holy See does not cease to invite diplomatic dialogue that respects the good of Catholics and of the entire population.”
The Ortega-Murilla dictatorship closed out 2023 with two bishops, 15 priests, and two seminarians in custody, according to data compiled by Nicaraguan lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina in her investigative report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?”