“I am appealing to him not to order Bishop Rolando Alvarez to leave the country,” she said, urging that “Getting rid of all the bishops and priests who stand up, who have the courage to stand up, is not the answer. The answer is to intercede, and speak up against the man who has declared a war against the Catholic Church.”
Bishop Silvio José Báez Ortega, an auxiliary bishop of Managua, has been living in exile since 2019 at the pope's request.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to CNA’s request for comment.
The far-left Ortega regime has been accused of corruption, voter fraud, imprisoning critical dissenters and journalists, and committing violent human rights abuses against the people of Nicaragua.
Both the current and former U.S. presidents have condemned Ortega for these acts. The Trump administration first imposed sanctions against the regime in 2018. President Biden signed the bi-partisan RENANCER Act, which extended sanctions, and called the 2021 re-election of Ortega a “sham.”
Jagger’s activism and faith
Bianca Jagger is a human rights activist, former actress, and ex-wife of Mick Jagger, the lead singer of The Rolling Stones, whom she married in a Catholic ceremony in 1971. The couple divorced in 1978, but Jagger continues to practice the faith.
“Once a Catholic, always a Catholic…Religion is a very important aspect of my life,” she said in a 2008 interview with High Profiles.
Her past activism has included lobbying for wider celebration of the Latin Mass (TLM) in England.
The Bianca Jagger Foundation did not immediately respond to CNA’s request for comment.
Edie Heipel is a former Political Correspondent for CNA's Washington, D.C. bureau. She previously worked in communications for Center for Renewing America, served in the Trump White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and has been a contributor to various outlets including The Federalist and The Charlotte Lozier Institute. She is a graduate of Wheaton College.