A day after Bishop Isidro del Carmen Mora Ortega said that the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN) “remains in prayer” for Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, political prisoner of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, the police captured him on Wednesday December 20, when he was heading to the Santa Cruz parish, located in the municipality of La Cruz de Río Grande, on the South Caribbean Coast.
Monsignor Mora Ortega becomes the second bishop arrested by the Sandinista regime, which has redoubled religious persecution against the Catholic Church, especially against these prelates, the highest ecclesial authorities after Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes in Nicaragua. The presidential couple first arrested Monsignor Álvarez, head of the diocese of Matagalpa, and sentenced him to 26 years in prison in February 2023 when he refused exile. Bishop Álvarez, a symbol of resistance against Ortega and Murillo, was charged with the crimes of “treason to the country”, undermining national integrity and “propagating false news.”
However, in the case of Mora Ortega, bishop of the diocese of Siuna, it is not yet known what he is accused of, much less his whereabouts. The uniformed officers intercepted the prelate when he was on his way to officiate the confirmations of 230 parishioners of La Cruz de Río Grande. Lawyer Martha Patricia Molina, author of the study Nicaragua: A persecuted church? He reported that the seminarians Alester Sáenz and Tony Palacios were also kidnapped.
What triggered the arrest of Monsignor Mora Ortega was to publicly express solidarity with Bishop Álvarez, confined and isolated in a cell at the La Modelo prison. ”I would like to express the greetings of the Episcopal Conference. We are always united praying for this beloved diocese of Matagalpa, praying for Monsignor Rolando, praying for the journey of each one of you. “We are united in prayer, in communion, in faith, in love, in tenderness,” said the religious during the mass commemorating the 99th anniversary of the creation of the diocese.
The diocese of Matagalpa, according to the homily of Monsignor Mora Ortega, is “a quarry of faith.” “It needs that drive of the layman who assumes the mission with love, with joy,” he said, quoting the parable of the good shepherd: “The shepherd leaves 99 sheep to go look for one (…) we live in times, brothers, in that you have to leave one to go in search of the 99″.
Isidro Mora Ortega was ordained a priest in 2003 and in April 2021 he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Siuna. Previously, he was vicar general of the diocese of Matagalpa and parish priest of the San Ramón Nonato church in the same northern department.
“Sometimes we find discouragement, but how nice it is to always find people of faith, people who are there in silence, people who are there serving the Church, people who are there persevering, people who are there assuming responsibilities. “I like when people talk about the good shepherd, the good shepherd who gives his life for his sheep,” he said, referring to the belief of the parishioners, which has been maintained despite the criminalization of the profession of the Catholic faith imposed by the Sandinista regime.
The Ortega and Murillo Administration maintains its crusade against the Catholic Church from various sides. On November 29, priest Jairo Antonio Mercado Pavón, who was returning to the country after a pastoral trip to the United States, was denied return to Nicaragua. Until last October, there were 84 exiled and banished priests. Meanwhile, police have banned more than 3,000 processions in the country since Easter, when dozens of parishioners were arrested.
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