Denver Newsroom, Sep 1, 2022 / 12:33 pm
A Nicaraguan priest living in exile in the United States pointed out that although Pope Francis in his Aug. 21 Sunday Angelus did not speak about Nicaragua in the way that some expected him to, if he had used stronger words, the mobs of the dictatorship “would have stormed the churches that same Sunday.”
Father Rafael Bermúdez has been in exile in the United States since 2018, the year the Daniel Ortega regime increased its actions against the Catholic Church in retaliation for the statements that priests and bishops made about the crisis facing the country.
In a statement to Noticias Caracol, the priest answered a question about the words that Pope Francis said about the situation in Nicaragua, where several priests have been arrested and are being held in the notorious El Chipote prison and the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, is under house arrest.
The pontiff said that he is “closely following, with worry and sorrow, the situation created in Nicaragua, and which involves people and institutions.” He also expressed his wish that “through an open and sincere dialogue they can find the basis for a respectful and peaceful coexistence.”