Vatican closes embassy in Nicaragua after Ortega’s crackdown
Vatican City AP The Vatican said Saturday it had closed its embassy in Nicaragua after the country’s government proposed suspending diplomatic relations, the latest episode in a yearslong crackdown on the Catholic Church by the administration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. The Vatican’s representative to Managua, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, also left the country Friday, bound […]
Nicaragua police ban Catholic procession in church crackdown
Reuters Nicaraguan police have banned a Catholic procession and pilgrimage in the capital of Managua on Saturday, citing internal security reasons, the archdiocese said on Friday as the crackdown on the church intensifies. In response, the archdiocese called for the country’s faithful to spend Friday in prayer and fasting and to attend mass at the […]
Nicaragua expels Red Cross representative without giving reason
Managua, NicaraguaReuters Nicaragua has expelled a top representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) without giving any reasoning, the humanitarian group said on Friday. The expulsion comes days after a similar decision in which Nicaragua ordered Vatican ambassador Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag to leave, which the Holy See called “incomprehensible”. Members of the […]
Nicaragua’s congress bans four universities and six aid groups
Managua, NicaraguaAP Nicaragua’s National Assembly, controlled by President Daniel Ortega, outlawed four private universities Wednesday, some linked to the Roman Catholic Church. The best known of the schools whose legal standing was canceled by the assembly is Polytechnical University of Nicaragua, which was a hotbed of antigovernment protests in 2018. Protesters yell from behind the […]
Nicaragua archbishop rejects that chapel fire was accidental
Managua, NicaraguaAP Managua’s Roman Catholic Archbishop celebrated Mass on Wednesday in front of a fire-scorched chapel at the capital’s cathedral and reiterated the church’s assertion that the fire was a “savage and terrorist” act and not an accident as reported by the National Police. Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes did not say who he believes was responsible […]
Updated: Nicaragua police discount arson in fire at cathedral
Updated: 12.30pm (AEST)Managua, NicaraguaAP Nicaragua’s National Police on Monday declared a fire inside Managua’s Metropolitan Cathedral accidental shortly after the Vatican’s top diplomatic envoy to the country said he had requested a “serious, careful and transparent investigation”. What the Managua archdiocese and Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes had called a terrorist attack, the police said was the […]
Churches call for an end to violence in Nicaragua
The World Council of Churches has joined in calls for an end to violence in Nicaragua, with the general secretary, Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, describing the level of state repression as “unacceptable”. In a statement issued late last week, Tveit said the number of civilian casualties – estimated at more than 300 killed and […]