The Catholic Church in Nicaragua is facing tremendous persecution at the hands of Ortega-Murillo regime, including harassment, desecration of buildings, and the exile of the faithful.
Nicaragua's Crackdown on Catholic Church Intensifying https://t.co/Ya3B069GEz
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) February 12, 2024
More from HotAir, via the AP:
Nineteen priests kicked out of the country, dozens of incidents of harassment and church desecrations, rural areas lacking worship and social services: the situation for Catholic clergy and faithful in Nicaragua is only worsening in 2024, according to exiled priests, laypeople in the Central American country and human rights advocates.
The fear of the ongoing crackdown by President Daniel Ortega – on the Catholic Church in particular but not sparing evangelicals – has become so pervasive that it is silencing criticism of the authoritarian government and even mentions of the repression from the pulpit.
“All the time the silence gets deeper,” said Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer who fled to the United States. Her work recording hundreds of instances of church persecution recently won her an International Religious Freedom Award from the U.S. State Department.
It's bad.
And it's not just the Catholic Church. The regime is also targets the Mayagna people.
The demonic Ortega-Murillo regime in #Nicaragua not only targets the Catholic Church for destruction, jails the political opposition, but also persecutes the indigenous Mayagna (AKA "Miskito") people who have suffered at the hands of the Sandinistas for years. https://t.co/LMXX1d6hcm
— Alberto Miguel Fernandez (@AlbertoMiguelF5) February 10, 2024
It's a humanitarian crisis.
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There is no freedom of religion when the far left runs your country. Just look at the Biden administration here in the United States as an example.
— NAPWP (@NAPWP587902) February 11, 2024
Things are not nearly as bad here, but the Left despises religion and always has.
Where is the Pope on this? Surely the Vatican has condemned these ongoing attacks on Catholics in Nicaragua, right?
The AP reports:
The Holy See has offered little public comment on the situation other than calling for dialogue. The Vatican spokesman didn’t respond when asked by the AP if Nicaragua’s highest-ranking cleric, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, is in Rome, as some Nicaraguan sources reported.
'Calling for dialogue.'
Nineteen priests kicked out of the country, dozens of incidents of harassment and church desecrations, rural areas lacking worship and social services: the situation for Catholic clergy and faithful in Nicaragua is only worsening in 2024 https://t.co/x6y9JsOk8s
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) February 12, 2024
And things will continue to get worse.
While the Pope is silent.
Chalk up another example of Francis's dereliction of duty.
Maybe he's too busy driving the church to schism, linking Marxism and Christianity as having a 'common mission', or condemning the justified war in Israel/Gaza to say anything about members of his own flock being persecuted.
He's had harsher words for faithful, traditionalist Catholics who prefer the Latin mass. We're 'divisive' and 'rigid' and 'inflexible' and 'not loving.'
But exile priests? Desecrate holy sites? Harass Catholics and he merely calls for 'dialogue.'
You don't dialogue with evil.
How difficult would it be for the Pope to issue a strongly worded statement condemning these attacks?
I understand completely the Swiss Guard cannot invade Nicaragua and liberate the Catholics there. No one is asking for that.
All that's needed is a for him to say he stands with, and is praying for, the Catholics of Nicaragua -- and Catholics facing persecution anywhere in the world -- and condemn the actions of the Ortega-Murillo regime.
He hasn't even offered prayers.
Just a weak-throated call for dialogue. How would that go? Ortega doesn't want Catholics in the country. How do you 'dialogue' with that?
'Well, the Bible says to turn the other cheek,' some might argue.
You have no Christian duty to 'turn the other cheek' when you are being threatened or abused. You have a right -- and a moral obligation -- to defend the innocent against unjust aggressors. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2265):
Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.
The Catechism calls for the use of arms against unjust aggressors. And Pope Francis can't even issue a statement.
Today is Valentine's Day -- the commemoration of a saint who faced persecution for his faith -- and Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, a time of fasting and sacrifice.
While my faith has been shaken these last few months, perhaps we could all do what the Pope hasn't and offer a prayer for the people of Nicaragua. And a prayer that the Catholic Church is restored to sanity.
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